‘Nymphomaniac’ coming to !f Istanbul festival

ISTANBUL

Lars von Trier’s film ‘Nymphomaniac’ is a drama about a woman’s erotic journey from birth to the age of 50.

Lars von Trier’s much-anticipated and controversial “Nymphomaniac” will meet Turkish cinema goers at the 13th !f Istanbul Independent Film Festival to be held between Feb. 13 and 23.

Starring Charlotte Gainsbourg, Stellan Skarsgård, Stacy Martin, Martin Solibakke, Shia LaBeouf, Jamie Bell, Christian Slater and Connie Nielsen, the film is a drama about a woman’s erotic journey from birth to the age of 50.

A cut version of the two-part film was released on Dec. 25, 2013 in Denmark and in the U.S. is set to be released in two parts on March 21 and April 18. The world premiere of the first part of the five and a half hour long uncut version is scheduled to be in February at the 64th Berlin International Film Festival to start at Feb. 6.

!f Istanbul will screen the cinema version copy of the film.

Elsewhere, Romania’s cinema board has declared “Nymphomaniac I” unfit for public viewing, a decision the distributor says is unique in Europe, the Associated Press has reported. The movie was due to be released Feb. 7 but the National Center of Cinematography on Jan. 29 told the distributor the film would be labeled IM 18 XXX, meaning it cannot be shown to the general public.

Distributor Independence Film called it “a case of censorship which is unique in Europe.” The chairman of the Senate’s Culture Committee, Georgica Severin, criticized the decision, saying “Nymphomaniac I” was already playing in Romanian cinemas.