Epidemic is a 1987 film directed by Lars von Trier. It is the second of three films known collectively as the Europa trilogy. Co-written by Niels Vrsel, it focuses on the screenwriting process. Lars and Niels play themselves, coming up with a last-minute script for a producer. This story is intercut with scenes from the film they write, in which Lars plays a renegade doctor trying to cure a modern-day epidemic. In an ironic twist, the doctor discovers that he himself has been spreading the virus. This film marks the first in a series of collaborations between von Trier and Udo Kier.
The film was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival.
