If you happened to stay loyal to Movieline's handicapping apparatus, then feel free to collect your winnings today: IFC Films has announced its acquisition of Antichrist, the graphic, controversy-courting Lars von Trier film that made waves this week at Cannes and will arrive uncut in American theaters. Well, maybe not uncut, ahem, but at least unedited.
The New York-based distributor, which has a running relationship with the Danish auteur and a seemingly insatiable appetite for Cannes competition fare (it also picked up Ken Loach's new film; more on that later today), negotiated a deal that will bring Antichrist stateside some time this fall. Early rumors on the Croisette hinted that an impending deal would likely require trims to the film's unflinching close-ups of explicit sex and genital mutilation, with an introductory title card announcing changes to von Trier's original version of the film. Thankfully that won't be necessary, though IFC may yet stick producer TrustNordisk with the cost of Antichrist-branded barf bags planted at art houses across the country. It only seems fair.
ยท Lord Have Mercy! Von Trier's Antichrist Finds U.S. Home [indieWIRE]