January 1999
Every Dogma Has Its Day
It began almost as a lark. Tired of the routines of the filmmaking
process, four Danish directors decided to set themselves a challenge. "We talked about all that bored us in filmmaking, all that we normally do, and then we forbade it. It was liberating," recalls 29-year-old director Thomas Vinterberg, one of the authors of what's grandiosely dubbed "Dogma 95."
In a half-hour's time, the quartet came up with 10 "Vows of Chastity." No artificial lighting, no manipulative musical scores, no historical settings or genre films. Absolutely no guns. Only location shooting and hand-held
cameras are permitted. "Dogma 95 desires to purge film, so that once again the inner lives of characters justify the plot," proclaimed the four, who include Vinterberg and Lars van Trier (whose Dogma creation The Idiots opens this spring).
Last fall, the first of the Dogma films burst out of the gate: Vinterberg's dysfunctional family drama, The Celebration. The vows behind this highly praised film might have been forgotten except for the pains taken by Vinterberg to play the Dogma card. The Celebration opens with an ornate certificate before the credits, certifying its status as a bona fide Dogma 95 film. Vinterberg even submitted a "Confession" about his lapses from the Vows of Chastity. (It's in this plea for absolution that one catches the self-mocking humor of the endeavor, an essential ingredient that seemed to elude many critics who get stuck on the filmmakers' gleeful arrogance.) The lark is now full of Pomp and Circumstance. But what's important to remember is Dogma 95's impetus. "We felt the routines and normalcy of filmmaking created laziness, rather than freshness," says Vinterberg.
"This is about making a renewal." It's about undressing filmmaking of its conventions and forcing oneself as a director to think anew.
"This has taught me that going all the way, making some sort of risk, is how I want to make films," says Vinterberg. "I'm not sure I'm able to every time. But it has been very inspiring."
In that spirit, The Independent asked a number of feature directors to put forth their own Dogmas. All have created work that challenges the tone, narrative structure, or production techniques of conventional cinema. And all, we hope, will inspire others to take the risks they choose.
-PATRICIA THOMSON
Scott King
1. The director is the eighth most important person in the making of a film. The ranking is as follows:
1) The writer
2) The editor
3) The casting director
4) The composer
5) The cinematographer
6) The script supervisor
7) The producer.
The credits should reflect this.
2. Have a reason for making the film. Driving people from their seats
with a revolutionary view of hegemony is a reason. "I want to be a
director" is not. If you don't know why you want to make the movie,
become a cheese maker. People like cheese.
3. You know what ? I've seen naked women before. Let's move on.
4. When I see the word "handgun" in a script, I reach for the incinerator.
5. Read Ebert's Little Movie Glossary: A Compendium of Movie Cliche's
and Stereotypes . . . (Andrews and McMeel, 1994) very carefully. Stop
doing everything in it.
6. There is no such thing as realism.
7. Coverage is for stupidheads.
8. Movies made by a committee decision-making process are better
movies. Most of the time. I'm pretty sure about this. Let me check
with my boss.
9. Take all the establishing shots in a movie. Put them in a pile. Light
them on fire. Step away.
10. Everything is gratuitous.
I will always he making the greatest movie ever made. Not to be doing so would be a waste of my time and yours, gentle reader. Hence, Treasure Island is currently the greatest movie ever made. That is all.
Scott King, under the auspices of King Pictures, has executive produced three independent films. Shotgun Freeway. Drives thru Lost L.A. (a documentary an the history of Los Angeles with James Ellroy and David Hockney), Star Maps (the feature debut of writer/director Miguel Arteta and a nominee far Best Picture for the Independent Spirit Awards), and Olympia (the feature debut of Robert Byington, which closed this year's Slamdance film festival and closed this year's South by Southwest film festival). With Treasure Island, Mr. King's debut as a writer and cinematographer, Mr. King continues his support of films that might otherwise not be made. Mr. King's superpower is his ability to guess how well a piece of clothing will fit a woman. He discovered this power during a stint as a retail clerk. He has never guessed wrong.