Although it set out to break the conventions of mainstream cinema, the Dogme95 movement began with its own set of rules. The 'Vow of Chastity' written in 1995 by Danish film makers Lars Von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg listed ten commandments that any Dogme film had to stick to.
A Dogme film couldn't use any props or sets, fixed cameras (only handheld camera), special effects (whether audio or visual), and, above all else, couldn't conform to any existing film genre.
For the European film industry, it was a wake up call: here was a group of directors who wanted to change the way they made films and the way we watched them. Dogme95 was born.
If the films had been rubbish, Dogme wouldn't have lasted very long. Fortunately, the first releases were spectacular, from Von Trier's deliberately provocative take on disability in "The Idiots" to Vinterburg's explosive family drama "Festen". Proving that it was possible to dispense with the conventions of storytelling and film-making, while still producing great movies, these two productions brought the back-to-basics Dogme style to the world.
It wasn't long before other film makers jumped on the bandwagon. "Julien Donkey-Boy" (America), "Interview" (Korea), and "F***land" (Argentina) were given the sought-after Dogme certificate of authenticity.
Seven years later, though, has Dogme95 started to run out of steam? Not only has it lost the initial shock value it once had (both in terms of its visual style and its willingness to deal with provocative material), but its key players have moved on to other projects (Von Trier has even stopped handing out certificates!).
Yet the movement has definitely left its mark on the world. Proud of its rebellious offspring, Denmark has raised state funding for films by 70%, and film makers all over the globe have reassessed their artistic methods.
And it's not just affected the movies... some computer game designers have started thinking about their own version of Dogme.
Only eight of the 25 certificated Dogme films have been released in the UK ("Italian for Beginners" being the latest), so the movement has clearly lost some of its edge. Even so, this Dogme hasn't had its day just yet.
