Lars Von Trier -- Nocturne DK-1980

Director: Lars Von TrierDK/1980/8mins/color. Nocturne was Lars Von Trier's graduation film made at the The National Film School of Denmark in Copenhagen. It's an intriguing look at the beginings of the career of one of Europe's most prolific and provocative film directors (BREAKING THE WAVES, DANCER IN THE DARK, DOGVILLE). Von Trier is closely associated with the Dogme collective calling for a return to plausible stories in filmmaking and a move away from artifice and towards technical minimalism.Lars von Trier's tense, experimental film, about a woman and her fear of day light recalls the work of avant-garde pioneers Maya Deren and Luis Bunuel. A mysterious phone call and circling flock of birds accentuate the visual poetry and establish the compelling emotional upset and narrative tension of which Von Trier would later become master. He has described himself in Interview magazine (June 1989) as "a melancholy Dane masturbating the dark to images on the silver screen." He has never been to the United States as he refuses to fly."Everything said or written about me is a lie"Lars von TrierCommentary by Lars von Trier, recorded in Copenhagen, DenmarkCourtesy of The Danish Film Academy, Copenhagen.