EXCLUSIVE A Dogma UK filmmaking programme has been greenlit, to be driven by Mia Bays, in what will be her first role after she departs as director of the BFI Filmmaking Funds in October.
Bays is working with Sigma Films producer Gillian Berrie on a series of feature projects by UK filmmakers, to be made by a set of rules similar to the Dogme 95 and Dogma 25 movements.
The UK iteration has the blessing of Denmark’s Zentropa, which created the original movement and is involved in the production of both the Dogma 25 Nordic initiative launched last year and this week’s German version.
Bays said she will be a “firestarter” for the UK edition, which will see her work with “the crème de la crème” of UK filmmakers, to whom she is now talking.
Funding partners are also being sought.
“As soon as I read the Dogma 25 manifesto last year, I was activated,” said Bays. “I knew we needed a UK response.
”I spoke to Gillian Berrie, who had channelled Dogme 95 into Scotland’s Advance Party [film series] which yielded Andrea Arnold’s Red Road, and we realised there could be an opportunity to build something grounded in that spirit but rooted in the UK.”
The proposal gained momentum after a conversation with Zentropa’s Louise Vesth at the Berlinale in February.
“[Zentropa] has been so encouraging, sharing how they put the Danish version together, and how the German version was shaping up,” Bays said. “The plan is for the UK to be next. I’ll devote my time to this when my BFI contract ends.”
“For me, this is about being part of a European film movement stripping cinema back to the essentials so something truthful, unruly, and alive can break through. I can’t think of a better way to spend my time.”
Bays’ five-year term as director of the BFI Filmmaking Funds ends in October. The fund has recently backed titles including Clio Barnard’s Cannes Directors’ Fortnight entry I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning.
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