A few days ago, the Cannes Film Festival’s General Delegate Thierry Frémaux had hinted that the festival was going to lift the director’s ‘persona non-grata’ status, put in place in 2011 after von Trier said in his typical provocative style, during the press conference for his Palme d’or contender Melancholia, that he was a Nazi sympathiser. Today Thursday Cannes organizers finally confirmed that the film will screen at the festival’s 71st edition.

This will be the 10th time that von Trier is in official selection in Cannes but his first time out of competition. The director won the Palme d’or in 2000 for Dancer in the Dark for which Björk was crowned Best Actress. 

The House that Jack Built follows Jack (Matt Dillon) through five murders that define his development as a serial killer and that he experiences as an art form. Along the way, Jack has conversations with the unknown Verge (Bruno Ganz). Jack’s victims are played by Uma Thurman, Siobhan Fallon Hogan, Sofie Gråbøl, and Riley Keough. 

The film produced by Louise Vesth of Zentropa Group was supported by Nordisk Film & TV Fond. Other co-producers/co-investors include Film i Väst, Copenhagen Film Fund, Slot Machine, DR, SVT, the Danish Film Institute, Swedish Film Institute, CNC, Film-Medienstiftung NRW, Eurimages, and the Media Programme.

TrustNordisk has pre-sold the film to numerous territories such as the U.S. (IFC), UK/Ireland (Curzon Artificial Eye), Germany/Austria (Telemünchen), France (Les Films Du Losange), Latin America (California Filmes), Italy (Videa), Benelux (September film), China (DD Dream), and Russia/CIS (Russian World Vision). Nordisk Film handles Scandinavian distribution. 

The Cannes Film Festival also announced today that the closing film will be Terry Gilliam’s The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.