von Trier, Lars

1956 – A Danish director wasborn on the 30th day of April this year in Copenhagen, Denmark. He was raised by nudist communist parents.

1979 – He was enrolled in the Danish Film School. During his time as a student at the school he made the films, Nocturne (Nocturne, 1980) and Image of Liberation (Befrielsesbilleder, 1982) that both won Best Film awards at the Munich Film Festival, along with The Last Detail (Den sidste detalje 1981).

1983 – He graduated this year from the film school.

1984 - After his graduation he began work on the Europe trilogy, which started with The Element of Crime (Forbrydelsens element 1984).

1987 – His film was a technical accomplishment and won a technical award at the Cannes Film Festival. This film was followed by Epidemic in this year that was also shown as part of the official programme at Cannes.

1988 - For television von Trier directed Medea this year which won the Jean d'Arcy prize in France. He then finished the Europe trilogy in 1991 with Europa initially released as Zentropa in the U.S., which won the Prix du Jury at Cannes Film Festival and picked up awards at other major festivals.

1990 - He also made the video clip for the worldwide hit "Bakerman" by Laid Back.

1992 -  He co-founded together with Peter Aalbæk Jensen the movie production company Zentropa Entertainments, which was named after his most recent film at the time

1994 - In order to make money for his newly founded company[5], he made The Kingdom (Riget, 1994) and The Kingdom II (Riget II, 1997), a pair of miniseries recorded in the Danish national hospital, the name "Riget" being a slang term for the hospital known as Rigshospitalet.

1995 - His mother revealed on her deathbed in 1995 that the man he thought was his father was not. After hearing this Von Trier tried to "erase" the connections with his stepfather by converting to Catholicism. After an initial meeting with his real father, his real father has refused to speak to him.

1996 - Breaking the Waves (1996) won the Grand Prix at Cannes. The film featured Emily Watson, who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

1998 - Lars von Trier overcame his dislike of traveling to present the second Dogme film, The Idiots (Idioterne, 1998), in person at the Cannes film festival. As instructor and originator of the Dogme95 concept, which led to international interest in Danish film as a whole, he has inspired filmmakers all over the world.

2000 – He premiered a musical featuring the renowned Icelandic musician Björk, Dancer in the Dark. The film won the Palme d'Or at Cannes.

2005 - He has completed Manderlay, the second film in his USA trilogy. The first film in that trilogy, Dogville, starred Nicole Kidman, and met with mixed critical reaction. Some viewers considered the film bold and powerful, while others found it pretentious and affected.

2006 – He released a Danish comedy film The Boss of it All. It has been shot using a process that Von Trier has called Automavision, which involves the director choosing the best possible fixed camera position and then allowing a computer to choose when to tilt, pan or zoom.