Dogme 95

A typical setting for Dogme 95 films. After all, there can’t be anything artificial in those films!

Dogme 95 was a ridiculous filmmaking movement that lasted a mere ten years and was founded by two idiots named Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg. Dogme 95 could also be described as a set of silly rules that don’t make sense, but you’ll see those rules later in this article.

History

One day in 1995, Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg were having pointless discussions about random topics. After realizing that their films were terrible compared to movies with good special effects, they decided to create Dogma 95, just to justify the fact that their films were crap, and a few days later, they spoke about Dogma 95 at a conference in France. At that same conference, they announced all 6,382,638,738 10 rules of Dogme 95.

Dogme 95 produced more than 36 films and came to an end in 2005, after Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg became ashamed of the films that had been made according to the Dogme 95 rules.

Origin of the name

To this day, it is not clear why they chose that name for the movement. Some speculate that they included “95” in the name because it was founded in 1995. Others speculate that they named the movement that because it was the only good name Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg could come up with.

Rules that Dogme 95 films had to follow

1. The film cannot be shot in a city (filming must take place exclusively in forests)
2. The sound must never be produced apart from the images (in other words, you should hire a band to play at the venue, even if it’s a band that’s no longer active, like Queen, for example)
3. You have to use an old, broken camera; in other words, you can't use modern cameras  
4. Special lighting is not acceptable, even if the film REQUIRES special lighting
5. Optical work and filters are forbidden
6. The movie shouldn't have any action scenes (it has to be suitable for the whole family)
7. Temporal and geographical alienation are forbidden
8. Genre movies are not acceptable (even if you really want to make a genre movie)
9. The film format must be Academy 35 mm
10. The director shouldn't be credited, even if he's really awesome and deserves to be credited

Dogme 95 films

• Festen
• The Geniuses
• Mifune
• The King Is Alive
• Haters
• Julien Donkey-Boy
• Interview
• Fuckland
• Babylon
• Chetzmoka's Curse
• Diapason
• Italian for Noobs
• Amerikana
• Jetpack Joy Ride
• Camera
• Good Actors