(Copenhagen) Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier, accustomed to controversy both about his films and his public statements, defended himself on Thursday after the publication of a post on Instagram critical of the donations of Danish F-16s to the ‘Ukraine.
“‘Russian lives matter also'”, he wrote on Tuesday in English on this social network after the visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Denmark where he inspected F-16s which must be delivered to his country, accompanied by the Danish Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen.
His message was addressed “to Gentlemen (Vladimir) Putin, Zelensky, without forgetting Mrs. Frederiksen (who yesterday, like a young girl in love, posed with a smile from ear to ear in the cockpit of one of the scariest things of our time).
This text, whose comments have been disabled, had attracted the attention of the Russian and Ukrainian media.
“I was just stating the obvious: all lives in this world matter. A phrase forgotten, it seems, from a time when pacifism was a virtue,” the 67-year-old director explained in a new post on Thursday.
In recent days, the Danish press had questioned this exit of Lars von Trier who had said in 2011 “compassion” with Hitler, before apologizing for these remarks.
In an interview with the daily Politiken, academic Jakob Baek Kristensen said that Russia welcomed the director’s first comments “with open arms”.
“He supports the idea that it is not Russia that is a ruthless aggressor, but that this is a legitimate conflict in which Russia is equally unhappy whenever it suffers casualties,” had explained the researcher, specialist in social networks.
Heavyweight of Danish cinema, Lars von Trier has made more than 14 often disturbing and sometimes violent feature films.
Known for being an original fan of dark humor, this Copenhagen native had the word “FUCK” tattooed on his fingers.
He was awarded a Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2000.
