Nymph 02

Photos courtesy of Magnolia.

The Long Beach Cinematheque will become the sole Southern Californian source outside of Los Angeles’s famed Nuart Theatre to be showing Lars Von Trier’s controversial Nymph()maniac.

The film will be screening at the movie organization’s Frida Cinema in Santa Ana and the securing this seminal film showcases how quickly the power of the Long Beach Cinematheque’s ability to be an influence for art-house film has risen. Given that The Frida has just started “putting art up on walls,” as founder Logan Crow describes screening movies, the Nymph()maniac showing is also impressive as it will premiere just one week after the film’s LA premiere.

Nymph 01April marks the month where the Long Beach Cinematheque will focus on controversial cinema—and Nymph()maniac marks the peak of what will be an entire retrospective at the Frida dedicated to Von Trier’s divisive work. Highlights include: Europa, the filmmaker’s third part of his “Europe trilogy;” Breaking the Waves and Palm d’Or winner Dancer in the Dark, the first and final parts of the man’s “Golden Heart Trilogy;” Dogville and Manderlay, the first two of the director’s “USA: Land of Opportunities trilogy” (though Von Trier has admittedly never been to the States); and Antichrist and Melancholia, the first two parts of his “Depression Trilogy.”

The Danish director and screenwriter is as adored as much as he is repulsed by audiences across the world, his work infamously drawing both boos and cheers at film festivals such as Cannes and Sundance. Von Trier drew immense criticism—not to mention an unwelcomed badge from the board of directors—at his 2011 Cannes appearance when he stated he was a Nazi:

“What can I say? I understand Hitler. He did some wrong things, absolutely, but I can see him sitting there in his bunker at the end… I sympathize with him, yes, a little bit…But come on, I am not for the second world war, and I am not against Jews. I am very much for Jews; well not too much because Israel is a pain in the ass. But still, how can I get out of this sentence… Okay, I’m a Nazi.”

Nymph()maniac, divided into two full-length parts due to the massive length of the original cut, marks the final part of Von Trier’s “Depression Trilogy.” The first part will appear at The Frida in a run from March 28 to April 10; Part II will begin on April 11 and run through to April 24.

For more information and tickets, click here.

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