Cannes: Young Danish Collective Reboots Dogma for New Generation

Yahoo

18-05-2025

Thirty years after Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg gave the arthouse movie world a much-needed kick in the pants with the Dogma 95, also known as Dogme 95, movement, a new generation of Nordic filmmakers is picking up the torch.
A collection of four up-and-coming Danish directors, May el-Toukhy (Queen of Hearts), Milad Alami (Opponent), Annika Berg (Team Hurricane), Isabella Eklöf (Kalak), and Jesper Just (Vanishing Woman) are launching Dogma 25, a manifesto-driven initiative designed to rescue artistic integrity from the pressures of the modern film industry.
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'Dogma 25 is a rescue mission and a cultural uprising,' the collective declared in a statement released in Cannes on Saturday. 'We stand together to defend artistic freedom as a shield against pointlessness and powerlessness.'
The five filmmakers are backed by some of Denmark's most established production entities. The project was spearheaded by el-Toukhy, who approached Zentropa last year. Zentropa producers Louise Vesth (Melancholia, Nymphomaniac) and Sisse Graum Jørgensen (The Hunt, Another Round) will oversee the rollout, with support from the Danish Film Institute, DR (Danish Broadcasting Corporation), Nordisk Film Distribution, and international sales agent TrustNordisk. The directors will have their first films fully financed (to a budget of 10 million Danish Krone, or $1.45 million), with a theatrical release guaranteed for Denmark. TrustNordisk will handle world sales for all the Dogma 25 projects.
'In '95, we made films in the certainty of peace and created a revolt against conformity,' von Trier and Vinterberg said in a joint statement. 'In '25, new dogmas are created, now in a world of war and uncertainty. We wish you the best of luck on your march toward reconquering Danish film.'
Von Trier and Vinterberg, together with directors Kristian Levring and Søren Kragh-Jacobsen, formed the Dogme 95 Collective, with strict 'vows of chastity' requiring directors to use handheld cameras and natural light, and banning the use of diegetic music or genre conventions.
Films made under the Dogme label included Vinterberg's Cannes Jury winner The Celebration (1998), Von Trier's The Idiots (1999), Kragh-Jacobsen's Mifune (1999), and Levring's The King is Alive (2000). The movement went international with Lovers (1999) from French director Jean-Marc Barr and Julien Donkey-Boy (1999) from American bad boy Harmony Korine. The movement is credited with revitalizing indie cinema in the late '90s.
Like its 1995 predecessor, Dogma 25 is underpinned by a stringent vow of chastity and ten dogmas that set strict creative and production rules. But while Dogma 95 was primarily about aesthetics, conceived as an attack on the vanity of the director class and on overly-produced, superficial art house films (primarily from France), Dogma 25's prime target is the means of production, with a focus on how films are made, not what they look like.
The 10 dogmas of Dogma 25 are: 'Scripts must be original and handwritten to preserve creative intuition; at least half of each film must be free of dialogue to emphasize visual storytelling; the internet is banned from the creative process to ensure connection to the physical world. Funding can only be accepted if it comes without editorial influence, and no more than ten crew members are allowed behind the camera. Films must be shot in their real-world locations, with no cosmetic alterations to faces or bodies unless required by the story. All materials — sets, props, costumes — must be reused or found, rejecting consumerism. Productions must be completed within a year to preserve urgency and creative flow. Above all, each film must be made 'as if it were the filmmaker's last.'
'In a world where formulaic films based on algorithms and artificial visual expression are gaining traction, it is our mission to stand up for the flawed, distinct, and human imprint,' reads the group's manifesto. 'We fight against the forces working to reduce cinematic art to an ultra-processed consumer product.'
DR's head of drama Henriette Marienlund added, 'We agree with the necessity of finding new directions in order to build talent and bring new voices into Danish film. We were there for Dogma 95, so of course we are also along for the journey in 2025.'
Nordisk Film Distribution's SVP Kenneth Wiberg pointed to the relevance of the moment: 'Dogma has always centred around relevant stories, and the market today needs a good story more than ever.'
TrustNordisk's managing director Susan Wendt called the launch 'the perfect way to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Dogma 95,' saying she looked forward to bringing the new slate of films to global audiences.
The first Dogma 25 films are expected to enter production later this year. A global launch and festival premieres are anticipated for 2026.
You can read the full Dogma 25 manifesto and the 10 vows of chastity below.
Manifesto:DOGMA 25 is a collective of filmmakers founded in Copenhagen in the spring of 2025. Our stated purpose is to preserve the originality of cinema and the opportunity to create film on its own terms.
The role of the director has increasingly been reduced to that of project manager, the film to a commodity, and the audience to consumers. Experimental practice is stifled by fear of risk-taking, which suffocates artistic exploration and silences unique voices. When films are merely executed and not allowed to evolve organically, it puts the art form in danger of becoming functional, obedient and thereby irrelevant.
In a world where formulaic films based on algorithms and artificial visual expression are gaining traction, it's our mission to stand up for the flawed, distinct, and human imprint. We champion the uncompromising and unpredictable and we fight the forces working to reduce cinematic art to an ultra-processed consumer good.
By scaling down production, we ensure that everyone on the team has an intimate relationship with the film and its message. This will enhance mutual trust and a sense of collective responsibility for the film and for each other. It also allows us to safeguard the flexibility that is vital in making a creative process dynamic and intuitive, rather than purely executive.
We celebrate DOGMA 95, all the filmmakers who came before us, and those who will come after. We stand together to defend artistic freedom as a shield against pointlessness and powerlessness. DOGMA 25 is a rescue mission and a cultural uprising.
To protect and preserve what we hold dear, we hereby submit to the unflinching and unbreakable set of rules called: THE VOW OF CHASTITY.
THE VOW OF CHASTITY:I vow to submit to the following set of rules drawn up and confirmed by DOGMA 25:
1. The script must be original and handwritten by the director.We compel ourselves to write the script by hand in order to nurture the kind of intuition that flows most freely from the dream, channelled through the hand onto the paper.
2. At least half the film must be without dialogue.We insist on a cinematic approach to filmmaking, because we believe in visual storytelling and have faith in the audience.
3. The internet is off limits in all creative processes.We commit to produce the films relying on real people within our physical reality – rather than in a digital one infused with algorithms.
4. We'll only accept funding with no content altering conditions attached.We assume responsibility for keeping budgets down so the team retains final say in all artistic decisions.
5. No more than 10 people behind the camera.We commit to working in close collaborations to build trust and strengthen our shared vision.
6. The film must be shot where the narrative takes place.Film as an art form becomes artificial and generic when we portray a location in a false light.
7. We're not allowed to use make-up or manipulate faces and bodies unless it's part of the narrative.Just as we strive to maintain the authenticity of the location, we also want to portray the human body without a filter. We celebrate it – warts and all.
8. Everything relating to the film's production must be rented, borrowed, found, or used.We commit to making films using objects that already exist and renounce the ahistorical and self-destructive culture of consumerism.
9. The film must be made in no more than one year.We abstain from any lengthy processes that stand in the way of creative flow.
10. Create the film as if it were your last.
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