11/02/2013 - "Four editors were working around the clock to meet the Cannes deadline, but we had to give it up," explained Zentropa Entertainments CEO and producer Peter Aalbæk Jensen

While Danish director Lars von Trier has opened nine of his films in competition at the Cannes International Film Festival - and won the Palme d'Or for Dancer in the Dark (2000) and the Jury Grand Prix for Breaking the Waves (1996) - his new feature, Nymphomaniac, will not premier on the Côte d'Azur, but later 2013.

This is not due to von Trier being declared a persona non grata at the festival in 2011 after his controversial Nazi remarks at the press conference after Melancholia [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lars von Trier
film profile], followed by charges of violating French law by local authorities in Grasse, which were subsequently dropped.

"Four editors were working around the clock to meet the Cannes deadline, but we had to give it up - after 268 script pages, 11 weeks of shooting and with 100 hours of material it would have been rape to finish the two films in time for the festival. But there is absolutely no bad blood between us," explained Danish producer and CEO of Zentropa Entertainments, Peter Aalbæk Jensen.

He has not yet decided where to unveil the feature after Cannes is out of the question, but added that "it is von Trier's most ambitious film to date, probably his masterpiece, it shows him at his best. To a merchant like me it brings a smile to my face watching lust and laughter go hand in hand with such a drama."

Danish international sales agency TrustNordisk managed to complete a promo of the first part of Nymphomaniac in time for the European Film Market in Berlin, where it is shown to buyers only. "The film is in every way exciting and controversial, and I'm convinced that the extensive material and time given allow us to prepare a launch that will rock the entire cinema landscape," said TrustNordisk Managing Director Rikke Ennis.

Starring French actress Charlotte Gainsbourg (photo) and Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård, the Louise Vesth production for Zentropa (with Zentropa-Køln Germany, Slot Machine France, and Caviar Belgium) will be edited for two versions, one hardcore, the other softer and less explicit. It was originally slated for a May 30 release in Denmark through Nordisk Film Distribution.