Germany is doing Dogma.
A year after a group of young Danish directors, in Cannes, rebooted the groundbreaking 1990s indie film movement Dogme 95, movement, with Dogma 25, five German-speaking directors are doing their own, local-language spin-off.
Dirctors Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run, Babylon Berlin), Ilker Çatak (The Teacher’s Lounge, Yellow Letters), Nora Fingscheidt (System Crasher, The Outrun), Helene Hegemann (Axolotl Overkill) and Kurdwin Ayub (Mond) have signed on to the Dogma 25 “manifesto,” pledging to make movies that follow a strict “vow of chastity” that includes 10 “dogmas” intended to revitalize independent cinema in the age of algorithms and streaming conventions.
The 10 dogmas include restrictions that all scripts “must be original and handwritten”; that at least half of each film must be free of dialogue “to emphasize visual storytelling”; that the internet “is banned from the creative process to ensure connection to the physical world”; and that “no more than ten crew members are allowed behind the camera.”
Other requirements include that all Dogma 25 films must be shot in their real-world locations, with no cosmetic alterations to faces or bodies unless required by the story; that all materials — sets, props, costumes — must be reused or found; and that productions must be completed within a year to preserve urgency and creative flow.
