Cannes 2025: Filmmakers launch Dogma 25 to rewrite rules of filmmaking in the internet age

The Hindu

19-05-2025

Thirty years after Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg launched the Danish avant-garde filmmaking movement Dogme 95, a group of filmmakers from Sweden and Denmark have vowed to revive the movement at this year's Cannes Film Festival under the name Dogma 25.
The participants in the latest iteration of the movement promise five films among themselves each year, and they intend to make these without using the internet in the creative process. 'In a world where film is based on algorithms and artificial visual expressions are gaining traction, it's our mission to stand up for the flawed, distinct and human imprint,' said the five filmmakers in a statement.
Founded by Danish-Egyptian director May el-Toukhy, the participants — Milad Alami, Annika Berg, Isabella Eklof, and Jesper Just — are calling the movement 'a rescue mission and a cultural uprising.' They have given themselves one year to create a movie.
'After Covid, all prices have gone up and we get less film for the same amount of money. That's a huge problem for the arthouse film, because the risk-taking is gone. All mainstream stands on the shoulders of arthouse, and if the arthouse dies completely, there will be no originality left in the mainstream,' said director Toukhy.
Though the movement has taken inspiration from the 1995 manifesto of Dogma 95, it has only retained one rule from the original, which is that any film that is a part of the movement must be shot where the narrative takes place.
Other rules that are binding on the participants include accepting funding only if no content-altering conditions are attached to it and not having more than 10 people behind the camera.
It is also essential for a Dogma 25 film to be without dialogue for half of its runtime, as the participants claim that they believe in visual storytelling and that they have faith in the audience. They are also steering away from using make-up or attempts to manipulate faces and bodies of actors cast in the film.
The movement is open to accepting more members and it also already received endorsement from Von Trier and Vinterberg.