Editing Lars von Trier (section)

=== 1984–1994: Career beginnings and ''Europa'' trilogy ===
In 1984, ''[[The Element of Crime]]'', von Trier's breakthrough film, received twelve awards at seven international festivals<ref name="Element of Crime">{{Citation |last=Trier |first=Lars von |title=The Element of Crime |date=14 May 1984 |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087280/awards |access-date=25 July 2016 |archive-date=31 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161031015608/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087280/awards |url-status=live }}</ref> including the Technical Grand Prize at [[Cannes Film Festival|Cannes]], and a nomination for the [[Palme d'Or]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.screendaily.com/news/von-trier-welcome-back-at-cannes/5054055.article |title=Lars von Trier welcome back at Cannes Film Festival |date=19 April 2013 |work=Screen Daily |publisher=Media Business Insight Limited |access-date=18 December 2013 |author=Melanie Goodfellow, Andreas Wiseman |archive-date=19 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131219012744/http://www.screendaily.com/news/von-trier-welcome-back-at-cannes/5054055.article |url-status=live }}</ref> The film's slow, non-linear pace,<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nZDFAgAAQBAJ |title=Politics as Form in Lars von Trier: A Post-Brechtian Reading |last=Koutsourakis |first=Angelos |date=24 October 2013 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |isbn=978-1-62356-027-0 }}</ref> innovative and multi-leveled plot design, and dark dreamlike visual effects<ref name="Element of Crime" />{{Failed verification|date=January 2017}} combine to create an allegory for traumatic European historical events.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/83-the-element-of-crime |title=The Element of Crime |access-date=25 July 2016 |archive-date=8 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160808181104/https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/83-the-element-of-crime |url-status=live }}</ref>

Von Trier's next film, ''[[Epidemic (film)|Epidemic]]'' (1987), was also shown at [[1987 Cannes Film Festival|Cannes]] in the [[Un Certain Regard]] section, and featured two story lines that ultimately collide: the chronicle of two filmmakers (played by von{{nbsp}}Trier and screenwriter Niels Vørse) in the midst of developing a new project, and a dark science fiction tale of a futuristic plague{{snd}}the very film von Trier and Vørsel are depicted making.{{citation needed|date = March 2023}} He next directed ''[[Medea (1988 film)|Medea]]'' (1988) for television, based on a screenplay by [[Carl Th. Dreyer]] and starring [[Udo Kier]], which won the Jean d'Arcy prize in France.{{citation needed|date = March 2023}}

Von Trier has referred to his films as falling into thematic and stylistic [[trilogy|trilogies]]. This pattern began with ''[[The Element of Crime]]'' (1984), the first of the [[Europa trilogy|''Europa'' trilogy]], which illuminated traumatic periods in Europe both in the past and the future. It also includes ''Epidemic''. He completed the trilogy in 1991 with ''[[Europa (1991 film)|Europa]]'' (released as ''Zentropa'' in the US), which won the [[Jury Prize (Cannes Festival)|Prix du{{nbsp}}Jury]] at the [[1991 Cannes Film Festival]],<ref name="cannes-1991.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/91/year/1991.html |title=Festival de Cannes: Europa |access-date=9 August 2009 |publisher=festival-cannes.com |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120920/http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/91/year/1991.html |archive-date=20 September 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref> and picked up awards at other major festivals. In 1990 he also directed the music video for the song "Bakerman" by [[Laid Back]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Schepelern |first=Peter |title=Lars von Triers film: tvang og befrielse |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oXlZAAAAMAAJ |access-date=11 October 2010 |year=2000 |publisher=Rosinante |language=da |isbn=978-87-621-0164-7 |page=313}}</ref> This video was re-used in 2006 by the English DJ and artist [[Shaun Baker (musician)|Shaun Baker]] in his remake of the song.{{citation needed|date = March 2023}}

Seeking financial independence and creative control over their projects, in 1992 von{{nbsp}}Trier and producer [[Peter Aalbæk Jensen]] founded the film production company [[Zentropa]] Entertainment, which has sold more than 350 million tickets and was nominated for multiple [[Academy Awards]] as of 2016.<ref name="Winfrey2"/><ref name="HISTORIEN – Historien om Zentropa"/> Named after a fictional railway company in ''Europa'',<ref name="tomb" /> their most recent film at the time, Zentropa has produced many movies other than Trier's own, as well as several television series.{{citation needed|date = March 2023}} It has also produced hardcore sex films: ''[[Constance (1998 film)|Constance]]'' (1998), ''[[Pink Prison]]'' (1999), ''HotMen CoolBoyz'' (2000), and ''[[All About Anna]]'' (2005).{{citation needed|date = March 2023}} To make money for his newly founded company, von{{nbsp}}Trier made ''[[The Kingdom (miniseries)|The Kingdom]]'' (Danish title ''Riget'', 1994) and ''[[The Kingdom (miniseries)|The Kingdom{{nbsp}}II]]'' (''Riget{{nbsp}}II'', 1997), a pair of miniseries recorded in the Danish national hospital, the name "Riget" being a colloquial name for the hospital known as Rigshospitalet (lit. The Kingdom's Hospital) in Danish.{{citation needed|date = March 2023}} A projected third season of the series was derailed by the death in 1998 of [[Ernst-Hugo Järegård]], who played Dr. Helmer, and that of [[Kirsten Rolffes]], who played Mrs. Drusse, in 2000, two of the major characters, which led to the series' cancellation.{{citation needed|date = March 2023}}