SPECIAL / DOGME revisited Twenty years ago, Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg wrote ten rules for filmmaking that would change Danish cinema forever. FILM looks back on the rescue action, the rules and the reactions and follows the traces in Danish cinema today. By Freja Dam
The rescue action [1] On 20 March 1995, the 100th anniversary of the world’s first film screening, Lars von Trier was invited to speak at a conference about the future of cinema at the Odéon Theatre in Paris. Von Trier usually hates such events, but this time, he had a purpose. When it was his turn to speak, he announced with deadpan: “It seems to me that in the last 20 years, no, let’s say 10 then, film has been rubbish. So my question was, what can we do about this? And I made some little papers with words on it. It’s called Dogme 95!” He threw a bunch of red f lyers in the air and read: “DOGMA 95 is a collective of film directors founded in Copenhagen in spring 1995. DOGMA 95 has the expressed goal of countering ‘certain tendencies’ in the cinema today. DOGMA 95 is a rescue action!” After reading the Dogme manifesto and the so-called Vow of Chastity, he left the podium, because, as he said, “I’m not allowed to discuss anything; it’s a group consideration.”
The rules [2]
[2] A red flyer like the ones thrown across the Odéon Theatre announcing the ten rules in Dogme’s “Vow of Chastity.”
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dogme revisited
It only took Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg 45 minutes to write the ten rules, all leading to let go of the superficial cosmetics and strip the film down to the basics. “I remember writing the rules as really fun,” said Vinterberg in Jesper Jargil’s 2002 documentary The Purified.”The psychological system was to ask, ‘What do we always use?’ and then ban it.” Von Trier and Vinterberg signed the so-called Vow of Chastity on 13 March, 1995. Later, Søren KraghJacobsen and Kristian Levring joined. The four were known as the Dogme Brothers.
The films [3] 35 Dogme films were registered before the Dogme Brothers set the certificate free in 2005. 10 were Danish: Dogme #1 The Celebration, Thomas Vinterberg, 1998 Dogme #2 The Idiots, Lars von Trier, 1998 Dogme #3 Mifune, Søren Kragh-Jacobsen, 1999 Dogme #4 The King Is Alive, Kristian Levring, 2000 DANISH FILMS
| Cannes Issue 2015