dogme 95
I watched an amazing film last night called ‘Open Hearts’. If you haven’t seen this film yet, then I highly recommend you watch it…soon!
It abides to the Dogma 95 Vow of Chastity, which is a set of rules made up by a bunch of film makers (including Lars von Trier) who believed that ‘The movie had been cosmeticised to death’. my friend emma first told me about this movement, in relation to stray cinema.
There is one paragraph in the Dogma 95 manifesto which I just love:
“Today a technological storm is raging, the result of which will be the ultimate democratisation of the cinema. For the first time, anyone can make movies. But the more accessible the media becomes, the more important the avant-garde, It is no accident that the phrase “avant-garde” has military connotations. Discipline is the answer ... we must put our films into uniform, because the individual film will be decadent by definition!”
That’s pretty cool, especially since this manifesto was written in the 60’s (*correction - as per comments on this blog - this manifesto was not actually written in the 60's - duh). I’m all for the democratization of film, and I think this political idea applied to modern films involves the internet, and the accessibility of digital media – whether it be hand held camera’s or your mobile phones etc. Film is cheaper now and easier than ever to make, putting filmmaking into new hands, and giving a different type of person (like me - and now you) the opportunity to tell their story using this all powerful medium.
I think filmmaking has a history of elitism. Whether it be the super expensive study of film, ‘who you know’ in the industry or how much backing you have from a producer (often back to who you know). Who is to say that these select, privileged few have the most original, interesting or even important stories to tell?
Comments
hi Michelle,
the Dogma 95 manifesto was written in '95
Rikke
By baggesen, 5 years ago
haha, yes hence the name. err thanks for pulling me up on that one.
I must have been confused by the opening line of the dogme manifesto 'In 1960 enough was enough'. I see now it references a movement in the 60’s, that in partially inspired and motivated the Dogme 95 movement...in 95.
must stop scanning content quickly on internet...
michelle
By michelle, 5 years ago
By michelle, 5 years ago