INTERVISTE
My
reasons for subscibing to and being co-inventor of the Dogme95 Manifesto
are personal and not necessarily 100% similar to those of the other
Dogme Brethern. My reasons were personal, artistic as well as political/ideological.
I wanted to counter or moderate certain tendencies in modern filmmaking.
I wanted to counter the mediocrity and the conventional in the most
conservative of our times’ artforms - namely filmmaking. But not only
in other peoples filmmaking - most definitely also in my own. Filmmaking
must be linked to a certain degree of risk. Dogme95 is my attempt to
undress film, to reach the ’naked film’. In
every musicians life there comes a time and place where you want to
go back to basics, where you want to play unplugged. That’s what Dogme95
is about.
Is 'dogme' a way of making low budget films?
No not at
all. The Dogme95 Manifesto does not concern itself with the economic
aspects of filmmaking. A ’dogme’ film could be low-budget or it could
have a 100 million dollar budget as long as the filmmaker follows the
Vow of Chastity. Far fetched maybe, but hopefully a clear example. Also
FESTEN - The Celebration is not a low-budget film in its native country.
At a production budget of about usd 1,3 million it is just slightly
below the average cost for feature films in Denmark. In Denmark a low-budget
film would hover around usd 0,5-0,75 million. (Thomas Vinterberg, director
of FESTEN - The Celebration).
The Vow of Chastity states that the director must not be credited -
isn’t it contradictory or ironic then that the dogme directors do give
interviews and that the PR surrounding the films is so intense ?
The Dogme95
Manifesto is exclusively aimed at the filmmaking process (’the making
of’) and not the ’afterlife’ - e.g. pr, marketing and distribution -
of the films. The ’dogme’ rules should be considered ’symbolic’ and
not as a means to remaining secretive or hidden. They are an expression
of the directors wish to recede into the background and thus push other
talent into the foreground. The ’dogme’ directors finest duty is to
register private moments between persons and not to influence them.
(Thomas Vinterberg, director of FESTEN - The Celebration).
Why does a ’dogme’ film synchronised into a foreign language not get
certification as a ’dogme’ film ?
If a ’dogme’
film is synchronised into a foreign language such as e.g. Italian or
German, we are talking about ’added sound’. According to dogme rule
number 2, ”The sound must never be produced apart from the images or
vice versa”. Thus, a synchronised film is technically not a ’dogme’
film. (Thomas Vinterberg, director of FESTEN - The Celebration)
Isn’t Dogme95 just a sleek, superficial, commercial gimmick ?
Most definitely
not. While the ideas behind the Dogme95 Manifesto was born out of honest
analysis it is true that the enormous international and local success
of the first 3 dogme films has to a degree turned ’dogme’ into a commerical
gimmick - a pr stunt. But that is fine with us. After all we are missionaries
for the message.
There is an implicit duplicity in The Dogme95 Manifesto. On one hand
it contains a deep irony and on the other it is most serious meant.
Irony and seriousness is interlinked in inseparable. What we have concerned
ourselves with is the making of a set of rule. In this sense it is a
kind of play, a game called ’rule-making’. Seriousness and play goes
hand in hand. A clear example of this is that the very strict and serious
Dogme95 Manifesto was actually written in only 25 minutes and under
continuous bursts of merry laughter… Still, we maintain that we are
in earnest. Dogme is not for fun. It is, however, both liberating, merry
and almost fun to work under such a strict set of rules. It is this
duplicity which is the magic of ’dogme’.
Why ’dogme’ - Thomas Vinterberg?
Strangely the strict set of rules we have set ourselves have turned
out to be a release, a relief and emancipation almost. The strictness
of the rule have not hindered but on the contrary encouraged my imagination.
When adding a musical score was suddenly prohibited this has resulted
in my film FESTEN - The Celebration being filled with people singing
! It has come alive.
The advantage of the Dogme95 rules is also that they ensure a great
freedom of movements during the shooting. While nearly all other film-making
instruments have been stripped away what remain are the two most essential
of instruments to a director, the story and the acting talent. Dogme95
allows my to focus on these instruments in the extreme.
On a philisophical level it is also noteworthy that the peoples in the
world who have been most oppressed have also turned out to be the strongest.
Resistance in this way creates movement.
As for myself I am a confused human being and find it wonderful to adhere
to rules and regulations.
Thomas Vinterberg - director of FESTEN - The Celebration.
Why
’dogme’ - Søren Kragh-Jacobsen?
Søren Kragh-Jacobsen - director of MIFUNE