Zentropa (Danish:Europa), is the title of Lars von Trier's third theatrical feature film, released in 1991. The film is about a young, idealist American who goes to post World War II Germany in order to help the rebuilding process by working on a train. Unwittingly he becomes involved with the Wehrwolves, a Nazi terrorist group fighting the occupying forces of the allies. The film stars Jean-Marc Barr (who went on to direct the fifth Dogme 95 film, The Lovers) and Barbara Sukowa. Lars von Trier (born April 30, 1956 in Copenhagen, Denmark) is a Danish film director closely associated with the Dogme95 collective calling for a return to plausible stories in filmmaking and a move away from artifice and towards technical minimalism. ... 1991 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km (over 11 miles) into the air, August 9, 1945. ... Werwolf was a Nazi plan at the end of World War II for a force which would aid the Wehrmacht by means of guerilla attacks against the Allies in the Allied-occupied regions of Germany. ... The Nazi party used a right-facing swastika as their symbol and the red and black colors were said to represent Blut und Boden (blood and soil). ... Dogme 95 is a movement in filmmaking developed in 1995 by the Danish directors Lars von Trier, Thomas Vinterberg, Kristian Levring, and Søren Kragh-Jacobsen. ...

The film, which was released in America as Zentropa and in the rest of the world as Europa, won three awards at the Cannes Film Festival (Best Artistic Contribution, Jury Prize, and Technical Grand Prize). Upon realizing that he did not win the Palme d'Or, von Trier gave the judges the finger and stormed out of the venue. The palace in which the festival takes place. ... The Palme dOr (Golden Palm) is the name of the highest prize given to a film at the Cannes Film Festival. ... The Middle Finger gesture (possibly offensive) The finger, known variously as the one-finger salute, the highway salute, flipping (someone) off, flipping the bird or the Trudeau salute (in Canada). ...

The film employs an experimental style, mixing black and white with color, having actors interact with rear-projected footage and layering different images over one another to disturbing effect. Experimental filmmakers are individual artists who use or used film as a visual art form rather than a storytelling or as a form of commercial media. ...

Zentropa is also the name of von Trier's production company.

External links

• Zentropa at the Internet Movie Database
• Biography of Lars von Trier

The Internet Movie Database (IMDb), owned by Amazon. ...