Lars von Trier diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease

It’s said the director is in “good spirits”

Lars von Trier has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease aged 66.

The director’s production company Zentropa, which he co-founded in 1992 with producer Peter Aalbæk Jensen, said in a statement he’s in “good spirits and is being treated for his symptoms”.

The company also confirmed von Trier would complete his work on the third and final season of his horror series, The Kingdom Exodus, currently in post-production.

The final season will have its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on August 31, with von Trier set to take part in limited press events to accompany its release later this year, according to the statement (via The Guardian).

The Kingdom Exodus marks the conclusion of a trilogy which began with 1994’s The Kingdom, set in a neurosurgical ward in Copenhagen nicknamed ‘Riget’. The second season, titled The Kingdom II, was released in 1997.

His most recent feature film was psychological horror The House That Jack Built starring Matt Dillon, which premiered at Cannes Film Festival in 2018. His other film credits include 2013’s Nymphomaniac, Melancholia, Dancer In The Dark and Dogville in 2004.

The filmmaker was famously banned from Cannes Film Festival for seven years in 2011 after joking that he “sympathised” with Adolf Hitler during a Melancholia press conference.

He was also accused of sexual harassment by Bjork in 2017 after working together on 2000’s Dancer In The Dark. The director has denied all the allegations.

The Kingdom Exodus will be released via Mubi in the US and UK later this year.

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