Capital Celluloid 2012 - Day 334: Thu Nov 29

Festen (Vinterberg, 1998): Ritzy Cinema, 6.15pm

The Ritzy are putting on a terrific Dogme 95 season this week. Here is their introduction to this excellent season: Dogme 95 was an avant-garde filmmaking movement conceived in 1995 by Danish directors Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg. Together they created the Dogme 95 Manifesto, which comprised of a set of rules designed to produce a pure filmmaking style based on the traditional values of narrative, performance and core themes, and to reject the use of elaborate post-production modifications. For the first time ever, we bring you a selection of films made according to this manifesto. Join us as we undress filmmaking on the big screen. All screenings will be introduced by a film industry professional who has been associated with or inspired by Dogme 95. More details here.

Chicago Reader review:
'On balance, Dogma 95 probably has more significance as a publicity stunt than as an ideological breakthrough, judging from the first two features to emerge under its ground rules, Lars von Trier's The Idiots and Thomas Vinterberg's The Celebration. Both films are apparent acts of rebellion and daring that are virtually defined by their middle-class assumptions and apoliticism. Von Trier's movie boasts one good scene surrounded by a lot of ersatz Cassavetes; Vinterberg's work, even more conventional in inspiration—think Ibsen, Strindberg, Bergman—is genuinely explosive because it's so powerfully executed. Shot with the smallest and lightest digital video camera available, The Celebration (1998) chronicles the acrimonious and violent family battles that ensue at a country manor where the 60th birthday of the family patriarch is being observed, not long after the eldest son's twin sister has committed suicide.'
Jonathan Rosenbaum

Here is the trailer.

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