The first two films being made under the Dogma 25 manifesto are now underway, from Danish filmmaker Annika Berg and Swedish filmmaker Isabella Eklöf.
Berg began writing her project earlier this week (January 26), titled God Is Love – Backward It’s Dog. As per tradition, the start of the project was marked by a ceremony at Zentropa headquarters.
She has described the film as “a radically feminine, soft, fluffy and tender work. It is a tribute to humankind’s best friend, dogs”.
It is Berg’s second feature after her debut Team Hurricane played at Venice Critics’ Week in 2017.
Eklöf commenced work on BDSM love story Mr. Nawashi last year on October 6. She told an audience at the Goteborg Film Festival she is going to begin shooting in mid-March, and has delivered a 205-page script which is completely handwritten, as per the rules of Dogma 25.
Both Berg and Eklöf have one year to complete their projects, in keeping with Dogma 25’s rules.
When asked if she was stressed about the process, Eklöf – whose credits also include San Sebastian 2023 title Holiday and Sky TV series The Death Of Bunny Munro – said, “I’m like Prince Andrew, I don’t really stress… Art is something you throw up on a piece of paper.”
May el-Toukhy, Milad Alami, Berg, Eklöf and Jesper Just created ‘The Vow of Chastity’, which commits them to various creative and filmmaking principles and 10 rules to “protect the artistic integrity of feature film and create space for uncompromising cinematic storytelling”.
The rules, which follow in the footsteps of Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg’s movement Dogma 95 and were first unveiled at Cannes last year, also include having no more than 10 people behind the camera, only having dialogue in half of the film, using makeup only if part of the narrative, shooting only in the locations where the narrative takes place, the internet is off limits, accepting only financing that does not impact the content and everything must be borrowed or rented.
Zentropa, broadcaster DR and Nordisk Film Distribution will provide the base funding, with support from the Danish Film Institute. TrustNordisk will oversee international sales.
Danish-Egyptian el-Toukhy, the driving force behind Dogma 25, is also taking part this week in Göteborg’s works-in-progress showcase with her post-Second World War feature Woman, Unknown – which is not part of Dogma 25.
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