Murray Smith, Professor of Film Studies, worked with Danish film-director Lars Von Trier, to provide the audio commentary for the DVD of the controversial film, Antichrist.

The collaboration arose after Professor Smith attended an academic conference at the University of Copenhagen, where Lars Von Trier had been a Film Studies student, and which included a special screening of Antichrist, for which Von Trier was present. This is his eleventh feature film, and caused widespread controversy and debate since it was screened at the Cannes Film Festival.

Professor Smith, who was already known for his work on Von Trier, received the invitation to do the commentary before seeing the film. However, his first impression of the film was that it was some of Von Trier’s best work and, while he knew it would be a challenge, he was keen to work with the director in this way.

Although Professor Smith spent several weeks preparing for the commentary, he and Von Trier had to do it in one take despite the fact that they had never met before. Nor did Von Trier know what he was going to be asked. This, Professor Smith feels, gave the commentary its sense of tension and edginess.

Find out more:

• Learn more about Murray Smith's research
• Find out more about Lars von Trier at IMDb
• The official Antichrist movie site
• More about the research in the School of Arts at the University of Kent.

Related courses at Kent:

Postgraduate courses (Master's and PhDs)

• Film Studies postgraduate degree programmes

Undergraduate courses (Bachelor's)

• Film Studies undergraduate degree programmes