Event

Festen (The Celebration)

Nov 03

(Thomas Vinterberg, 1998, Denmark)

Tuesday, Nov 03 at 07:30PM
At a Danish patriarch's 60th birthday party, his grown son publicly accuses his father of incest. Things go downhill from there. It's the first film made in the Dogme 95 movement, and the directorial debut of Thomas Vinterberg, whose more recent successes include The Hunt and Far From the Madding Crowd.

Dogme's verite style (handheld cameras, natural lighting) found a perfect match in this devastating story, and the tension onscreen is amplified by the aesthetic, building to unbearable heights. As the family is pitted against itself, decorum is peeled apart, layer by excruciating layer. Vinterberg somehow finds humor in this implosion, walking a fine line between tragedy and comedy that makes this the finest of the dogme films made.
Festen won the Jury Prize at Cannes, along with a host of festival awards around the world. For any fans of the dogme movement or verite filmmaking, this is a must-see.