DOGME 95 TECHNIQUE
HOUSE RULES Thomas Vinterberg’s Festen (left) and Søren Kragh-Jacobsen’s Mifune (far left) were pioneers in the original Dogme 95 movement
THE VOWS OF CHASTITY Dogme 95’s cardinal rules for filmmaking 1.
Shooting must be done on location. Props and sets must not be brought in (if a particular prop is necessary for the story, then a location must be chosen where this prop can be found). The sound must never be produced apart from the images, or vice versa. (Music must not be used unless it occurs where a scene is being shot.) The camera must be handheld. Only movement or immobility attainable in the hand is permitted. The film must be in colour. Special lighting is not acceptable. (If there is too little light for exposure, the scene must be cut or a single lamp attached to the camera.) Optical work and filters are forbidden. The film must not contain superficial action. (Murders, etc can’t occur.) Temporal and geographical alienation are forbidden. (That is to say, the film must take place here and now.) Genre movies are not acceptable. The film format used must be Academy 35mm. The director must not be credited.
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forced filmmakers to think outside the box and arguably paved the way for modern indie digital filmmaking. A NEW WAVE Thirty years after the announcement of Dogme 95 in Paris, a new collective emerged in Cannes: Dogma 25. Heavily influenced by the original movement, Dogma 25 was formed by director May el-Toukhy, who was recently awarded the Golden Lion at Venice Film Festival for her feature Woman Unknown . El-Toukhy phoned Milad Alami to inform him that she was creating the movement and ask for his thoughts on it. Directors Annika Berg and Isabella Eklöf, and visual artist Jesper Just followed suit.
“Essentially, we discussed the concept of Dogme 95 in today’s climate and what would be needed for the movement to be different,” says Alami. “We also asked if it’s actually a good thing to even have it. Then slowly the manifesto developed.” He admits he was hesitant at first and even doubted the movement would happen, as he thought it was too complicated. Initially, it served merely as a space where filmmakers could meet to discuss cinema and shared experiences. The experience reminded him of being back in film school. “It involved lots of not agreeing and arguing,” he recalls. “We all disagreed on most of the rules. We each had our favourites and ones we fought for, others we didn’t think
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