The German word “gesamt” means “total,” but it can also mean “aggregate.” It’s also the name of Lars Von Trier’s newest project. According to a press release, von Trier is asking anyone within earshot to submit work for the film, which will ultimately be cobbled together from entries by Danish director Jenle Hallund. The rules are pretty simple.
Each participant can submit up to 5 minutes of material (but can submit as many times as he or she wants) by September 6th, 2012. Von Trier and the production have offered these 6 iconic artworks as inspiration:
- James Joyces’ “Ulysses”
- August Strindberg’s play “The father”
- The Zeppelinfield in Nuremberg, designed by Hitler’s main architect Albert Speer
- Paul Gauguin’s painting “Where do we come from? Who are we? Where are we going?” (See below)
- The collected improvisations of Cesar Franck
- The collected music of Sammy Davis, Jr.
But none of them should directly be in your final film.If they are, the film won’t be used.
Von Trier was instrumental in the challenging documentary The Five Obstructions, torturing his mentor by making him re-make a short film under stricter and stricter constraints, however von Trier comes to the crowdsourcing phenomenon after directs like Ridley Scott and other collaboratives that are reaching out to the world at large to see what they can deliver – a venture that doesn’t seek any formative control over the art that’s created.
Of course, Hallund (ostensibly with input from von Trier) will have final cut, but it will be like a cook not being able to do the shopping. It’s their new movie, but it’s also all of ours.
Here’s the website again with more information and where to submit.
If you do submit, please drop us an email and let us know. We’d love to see what you come up with.
Von Trier Photo: Jan Buus
