Lionel Cironneau / AP Photo
Film director Lars von Trier has been expelled from the Cannes film festival, following a series of bizarre jokes in which he called himself a Nazi and a Hitler sympathizer. It is the film festival’s first expulsion in 64 years. The festival’s board of directors made the decision, although it was not unanimous. Festival President Gilles Jacob said, “Using the Cannes film festival to say such intolerable things in front of the media is to tarnish its image.” During a press conference on Wednesday, von Trier said that he felt he understood Hitler and that he sympathized with him. He then said, “I am of course very much for Jews. No, not too much because Israel is a pain in the ass.” At the end of the press conference he muttered: “the final solution with journalists.”