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To the Rescue of Cinema: Dogme 95

With the rise of the digital filmmaking alternative, the world has seen a considerable number of new filmmakers coming out every year. Anyone with an access to a DV Cam and Final Cut Pro on their G4s are making films. Of course, there are good films and then there are bad films. But the result is the fact that the age-old respect for cinema as a serious and difficult art has been demolished and replaced with simpler and newer alternatives. As much as it is a boon in itself, it is also a curse. With easy access to minimal cinematic equipment, you have some great filmmakers coming out who would’ve not made it had it not been for the digital option. On the downside, there are those pretentious characters that just don’t have anything real to offer to cinema. Is the continuing simplification of cinema an evolutionary gift or a derogatory curse? I’ll leave it to you.

It was amidst this very confusion that a new movement in cinema was conceived. It is avant-garde, it is revolutionary, it goes by the name of Dogme 95 and it has its roots in Denmark. It was conceived in the year 1995 in Copenhagen as an action to ‘counter certain tendencies in cinema today’. The movement aims to bring back the respect for cinema as a serious art form by incorporation a certain discipline in its making. The movement has an official manifesto that calls upon all the filmmakers around the world to make films under the ‘Dogme 95′ tag by undertaking the ‘Vow of Chastity’.

The Vow

“I swear to submit to the following set of rules drawn up and confirmed by DOGME 95:

· Shooting must be done on location. Props and sets must not be brought in (if a particular prop is necessary for the story, a location must be chosen where this prop is to be found).

· The sound must never be produced apart from the images or vice versa. (Music must not be used unless it occurs where the scene is being shot).

· The camera must be hand-held. Any movement or immobility attainable in the hand is permitted. (The film must not take place where the camera is standing; shooting must take place where the film takes place).

· 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 be attached to the camera).

· Optical work and filters are forbidden.

· The film must not contain superficial action. (Murders, weapons, etc. must not occur.)

· Temporal and geographical alienation are forbidden. (That is to say that the film takes place here and now.)

· Genre movies are not acceptable.

· The film format must be Academy 35 mm.

· The director must not be credited.

Furthermore I swear as a director to refrain from personal taste! I am no longer an artist. I swear to refrain from creating a “work”, as I regard the instant as more important than the whole. My supreme goal is to force the truth out of my characters and settings. I swear to do so by all the means available and at the cost of any good taste and any aesthetic considerations.
Thus I make my VOW OF CHASTITY.”

The above ‘Vow of Chastity’ results in cinema that is refreshingly serious. The director becomes more than someone who chooses things, she becomes a medium through which a story is told. It is upto her to work out a way to communicate all that is to be told without breaking any of the above mentioned rules. The very lack of the option of lighting a frame packs a tight punch and leaves us wondering what will happen to the likes of Spielberg and Cameron if this rule was enforced onto them. The challenge becomes even tougher with the fact that the camera has to be handheld. What good are all those tracking shots, dollies and tripods? The best cinematographers are at question here. For the writers, there cannot be any superficial incident happening. If there is something in the story, it has to be experienced by the actors as it is. That means no artificial blood, no murder attempts etc.

Another vital ingredient of the Dogme 95 film is the obsolete aspect ratio of 1.37:1 (academy). Personally, I think this is a wonderful point to be added because a lot of films that come out these days are either 1.85 or 2.37 to one. These wide-screen aspect ratios have become so much of a common thing among films these days that when watching the pre-1960 films, it is just refreshing to see the old academy ratio at work. This just might be a personal preference because I always had a clear preference for films shot in either 1.66 or 1.37 aspect ratios (maybe because they gave them a non-commercial feel).

The vow stresses on having celluloid as the medium in which the film must be screened. The filmmaker is at ease to use a digital video camera to film but she must transfer it to 35mm film before it can be screened. This is reminding us the fact that film still remains superior in terms of image quality to video.

But perhaps the most important point as to why the vow is so concrete is the fact that the director is not to be credited. This rule alone will separate the dirt from the grain. It is clear that a lot of independent cinema that comes out in the world today is aimed at launching the director into the big blocks. This rule challenges the commitment of any filmmaker making a Dogme 95 film and puts them against the wall. Are you committed enough to cinema as a serious art-form that you would forego your own chance at glory?

The Beginning

Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg were the two people responsible for the Dogme 95 movement. They got together and decided to have a new ‘wave’ in cinema that brought back its original charm as a serious art-form. Both these men allegedly came up with the vow of chastity in about 45 minutes. Lars von Trier announced his intention for this movement first at the Odéon – Théatre de L’Europe in Paris on the 20th of March 1995, where he was invited to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of film.

The first Dogme 95 film was released in 1998 by Thomas Vinterberg and it was called Festern (The Celebration). This was officially titled Dogme #1. It was followed by Lars von Trier’s Idioterne (The Idiots) and it was christened as Dogme #2. Following on the leading examples of both the founding members, a large number of filmmakers from around the world slowly started joining the movement. Jean-Marc Barr’s 1999 film Lovers was the first non-Danish Dogme film and it was given the code Dogme #5. As of September 2007, the official Dogme 95 website lists 217 officially certified Dogme films from around the world.

The Future

Now entering its 13th year since the date of its announcement, the Dogme 95 movement is holding on steady and quietly growing among a dedicated set of individuals spread across the world. Just as we need the dam to control the speeding currents, we need discipline in times of endless accessibility. Of course, it is encouraging to know that you can have your life long dream of becoming a filmmaker come true with the advent of digital filmmaking but then again would you have fought harder if you knew the option was not available? I think this is what the movement is all about. When everyone has super-powers then no one is super. We need that rift and it won’t be created just by using costlier equipment or a grander budget or with the use of powerful special effects, it will happen through the enforcement of rigorous discipline.

It is time we remembered what cinema was all about. Every time cinema reached a point where it was nothing more than a mere business affair with your audience, a movement changed the art forever. German Expressionism, Italian Neo-realism, the French New Wave, the British New Wave and the global No-Wave, these were all the movements that saved cinema across various decades from slipping away from its faithful lovers and brought back the pure thrill of watching a film all over again. Dogme 95 might just be heading that way.

You can visit the official Dogme 95 website here.