Danish director Lars von Trier, who has been barred from the Cannes Film Festival since 2011 over his controversial comments about Adolf Hitler, will make a comeback at the gala in May.
Festival director Thierry Fremaux has revealed that Von Trier, 61, will return in 2018.
Fremaux told a French radio statement, “There will, maybe, be an announcement...”
The filmmaker’s The House That Jack Built, which stars Matt Dillon and Uma Thurman, has been linked with a slot at the festival for a long time.
The psychological thriller centres on the life of a serial killer in Washington over the space of a dozen years.
The director hasn’t been invited to Cannes since 2011 when his movie Melancholia screened in the festival’s main competition.
When he was asked about his German roots and his interest in the Nazi aesthetic at a press conference, Trier had delivered a controversial response.
He said at the time, “I thought I was a Jew for a long time, and I was very happy... But it turned out that I was not a Jew. And then I found out that I was really a Nazi because my family was German. Which also gave me some pleasure. What can I say?”
During the press conference, the movie’s star, Kirsten Dunst, urged the director to stop talking, but he continued with his explanation.
He said, “I understand Hitler. I think he did some wrong things, absolutely, but I can see him sitting in his bunker at the end.”
“I think I understand the man. He’s not what you call a good guy, but I understand much about him, and I sympathise with him a little bit,” he added.
