"Dogma 25": a new manifesto against the Internet in filmmaking
Kyiv • UNN
The Cannes Film Festival presented "Dogma 25" – a movement protesting against the dominance of the Internet in cinema. It seeks to revive distinctive, imperfect and sincere cinema.
The Cannes Film Festival presented a new cinematographic movement called "Dogme 25", which became a kind of continuation of the famous "Dogme 95", founded by Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg. A collective of artists, inspired by the principles of the original manifesto, announced its protest against the dominance of the Internet in creativity and for the revival of distinctive, imperfect, but sincere cinema. This is reported by UNN with reference to The Guardian.
Details
In a world where cinema is based on algorithms and artificial visual expressions are gaining momentum, our mission is to defend the imperfect, distinctive and human imprint
The initiator of the movement was May el-Toukhy, a 47-year-old director with Danish-Egyptian roots, the author of the drama "Queen of Hearts", which represented Denmark at the "Oscars" in 2019. She also worked on the series "The Crown". El-Toukhy noted that the current economic situation significantly complicates the production of auteur cinema.
After Covid, all prices have risen, and we are getting fewer films for the same amount of money. This is a huge problem for arthouse cinema, because the tendency to take risks has disappeared. The entire mainstream stands on the shoulders of arthouse, and if arthouse disappears completely, there will be no originality left in the mainstream - she noted.
El-Toukhy was joined by directors Milad Alami, Annika Berg, Isabella Eklöf and artist Jesper Just. The movement remains open to new participants. The manifesto was also supported by the founders of "Dogme 95" — von Trier and Vinterberg, and worked on the creation of the document together with the Zentropa film company.
The new manifesto retains only one of the rules of the previous movement: the film must be shot where the action takes place. Among other requirements:
- the script must be original and written by
hand by the director himself;
- the film crew should not exceed 10 people;
- funding is allowed only on condition of complete creative
freedom;
- at least half of the film must be without dialogue;
- makeup and digital modification of appearance are prohibited;
- props must be used, borrowed or found;
- all films must be shot in a year;
- the use of the Internet in the creative process
is prohibited.
Just explained that "internet ban" means abandoning online research, references and platforms — e-mail is allowed only for administrative purposes.
We have become so dependent on the Internet that you think: "Wow, I get all my inspiration from the Internet. The point is to break free from it, because we are very vulnerable when we are constantly attached to large firms that can attack us with algorithms
Isabella Eklöf, who won the Bodil Award for the film "Holiday", is already working on her film within the framework of Dogme 25. According to her, the plot is based on her own experience.
I was in a sadomasochistic relationship and never saw a movie about it from a certain naturalistic point of view. I would really like to make a romantic, down-to-earth film about it
Let's add
According to the publication, "Dogme 25" is not just a manifesto, but an attempt to return auteur cinema to humanity, opposing it to the algorithmic and commercialized mainstream.
The new movement aims to restore confidence in the image, in the director's intuition and the living process of creation, where the main role is played not by technology, but by man.