Dogme 95

• Danish directors 'Lars von Trier' and 'Thomas Vinterberg' created the 'Dogme 95 Manifesto' and the 'Vow of Chasity'
• These two directors started the Dogme 95 filmmaking movement in 1995
• The Dogme 95 consists of rules which are based on the traditional values of story, acting and theme and excluding the elaborate use of special effects or technology
• The Dogme 95 Collective was eventually formed and they were joined by directors Kristain Lerving and Soren Kragh-Jacobsen
• This new genre took an interest from unknown filmakers as it suggests that one can make a film without being dependent on comissions or huge Hollywood budgets, making films in this genre easily accessible
• It instead depends on European government subsides and television stations
• However, the movement was criticised for being a 'disguised attempt to gain media attention'
• On the other hand, Dogme was actually intiated so that it would make filmmakers rethink the art, effect and essence of filmmaking

History

• They announced the Dogme Movement on March 22, 1995 in Paris
• The cinema world had gathered to celebrate the first century of motion pictures and contemplate the uncertain future of commercial cinema
• When called upon to talk about the future of film, Lars Von Trier gave the audience pamphlets to their suprise, annoucing the Dogme 95 movement
• Von Trier and Vinterberg - 'In a buisness of highly extreme budgets, we figured we should balance the dynamics as much as possible'

Goals and Rules

• Goal of Dogme collective is to purify filmmaking by refusing expensive and spectacular special effects, post-production modifications and other technical gimmicks
• Concentrate on story and the actors performance
• This approach is used as it is believed it will better engage the audience, as they are not alienated or distracted by over production

'Vows of Chasity'

• Filming must be done on location. Props/sets must not be brought in. If particular prop is neccessary for the story, a location must be used from where the prop is found
• Sound must never be produced apart from the images or vice versa. Music must not be used unless is occurs within the scene being filmed
• Camera must be hand held. Any movement or immobility attainable in the hand is permitted. Film must not take place where camera is standing, filming must take place where action takes place
• Film must be in colour. Special lighting is not acceptable.
• Optical work and filters are forbidden
• Film must not contain superficial action
• Temporal and geographical allenation are forbidden
• Genre movies are not acceptable
• Final picture must be transferred to the Academy 35mm film, with aspect of ratio 4:3, that is not widescreen
• Director must not be credited

Contemporary British Cinema - Gender

• Focuses on the representation of sexuality, class, gender and ethnicity in contemporary British cinema.
• E.g. equalisation fo the age consent, outlawing of workplace discrimination on grounds of sexuality and the legal recognition of same-sex civil partnerships
• Homosexual representation remains a peripheral aspect of British film culture
• Few films are made with the sole purpose of exploring one particular aspect of cultural identity and some of the most interesting films of modern British cinema, from 'My Beautiful Landrette (1985)', to 'A Way of Life', have been those situated on the interstices of identity politics

Women

• Questions of feminine agency have frequently been raised across films of differing genres and historical settings
• Literary and period drams e.g. Elizabeth and Charlotte Gray have celebrated the role played by women in history, and the contributions of female artists and writers have also been celebrated in biopics like Hilary and Jackie, Iris and Miss Potter
• Issues pertaining to the female body, such as infertility and abortion, have been contemplated, to differing ends e.g. Mad Cows (1999), Fanny and Elvis (1999)
• Rising no of female directors and writers contributing to British film culture and varied scope on their work, has been one of most welcome developments of the era
• Recurring scenarios of the male centrered films and genres have occasionally been answered by 'female' equivalents
• Stories of self-empowerment in School for Seduction, Calender Girls and Rabbit Fever whilst Women Talking Dirty (1999), Beautiful Creatures (2000) offer a glossily feminist spin on the 'buddy' movie, the gangster film and the caper movie
• In stories about close friendships such as 'Career Girls, Me Without You (2001) and Anita and Me - are sometimes homoerotic undercurrents, but the problematic relationships in these films are also a way to explore tensions and jealousies relating to age, gender, ethnic and intellectual difference
• As with many male films, there is concern with 'performance' - the question of 'how to do' feminity but with an emphasis on the role of voice, either in written or oral form, rather than the body
• Although Little Voice accomodates the singing talents of its main star, Jane Horrocks, the film is ambivalent about her withdrawn young character's impersonations of female singers
• Little Voice makes for an interesting comparison with Lynne Ramsay's Movern Callar, another story of a detached, unreadable young woman who appropriates the 'voice' of others
• In realist melodrama Stella Does Tricks (1996) - a teenage victims of abuse and prosititution is last seen recounting her story to others, and therefore seizing contrl of her narrative for the first time
• British cinema's best known intervention within contemporary gender politics in recent years has probably been the films based on 'Bridget Jones' novels - the Bridget Jones character became a hotly debated icon of post feminism
• The character articulated an aspect of contemporary experience that had rarely been addressed and would go on to be a keynote work of 'chick-lit' fiction
• Through their depiction of a women experiencing both the freedom and loneliness of the 'singleton' existence, the books and films reflected the growing social trend for single occupancy households
• Also been a loose cycle of films exploring behavioural responses to trauma and abuse e.g. Stella Does Tricks, the War Zone, Hold Back the Night, Kidulthood and London to Brighton - dwelt upon exploitation and sexual abuse of teenagers and young people
• Engaging with the interior lives of damaged young women, 'Under the Skin, Morvern Callar and Red Road provocative connections between emotional trauma - the death of loved ones and sexual desire
• They express the intesnsity of their central character's grief but also to render unclear their motivation and the extent of their passivity
• Part revenge thriller, part commentary upon serveillance culture, Red Road is a genetically intricate film about Jackie, an introverted minimally-expressive council CCTV operator who sees on screen the man who killed her husband and son in a car accident - the film finds a metaphor in the decoding of CCTV images for the viewer's own inability to read Jackie's persuit of CLyde, which cultimates in a graphic sex scene, was recognised as one of the film's strenths but also caused some disquiet.
• Albeit rarely to such a controversial effect, the expression of containment of 'dangerous' female sexuality has been a recurring theme in contemporary British cinema, cropping up in films of differing genres and historical settings.