Dogme95 is a movement in the film industry that was started in 1995 by a group of Danish film directors amongst whom was Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg.
What is Dogme 95?
The prime objective of this new approach in film-making was to shift the focus to the actual story-line, and the acting, rather than the medium.
For this purpose The Vow of Chastity was elaborated by Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg. This “Vow” was a set of criteria that should be followed in order to fulfill the Dogme 95 standards. A couple of examples of these criteria was that the camera should at all times be handheld, or that optic filters should not to be applied.
Movies that have sprung from Dogme 95 category are the much acclaimed The Celebration from 1998 by Thomas Vinterberg, The Idiots by Lars von Trier, also from 1998, and even movies produced at a later date by the American director Harmony Korine, with the movie Julien Donkey-Boy.
Considered a groundbreaking and novel way of film-making the Dogme group ultimately dismantled in 2002, leaving an impressive legacy of a total of 212 movies.
Precursors of the Movement
A few directors had already applied many of the movement’s criteria, prior to its inception. Directors such as, Steven Soderbergh with the movie Sex, Lies and Videotape from 1989, and the director Dziga Vértov.