festen

years ago esra and i were fascinated by this new film movement called dogma. it was through international istanbul film festival that we learned this movement. two films were being screened that year idiots and festen (the celebration). we were able to find tickets for trier's idiots, to which we also dragged our mothers. 2 hours of penis-watching with mothers and we were 16 or 17. how more embarrassing could it get?? but festen was sold out.



years passed by and we grew less fascinated by non make-up, non lighting, non script, trier, etc. i forgot about festen. and now today i had the chance of watching it. it is a great film. much better than anything trier could ever direct. it demonstrates the real power of dogma cinema- the ability to move you without artificiality.
hail to thomas vinterberg! (even though as a dogma director he would have been ashamed of taking credit for it, i feel, coming from a director-based appreciation of cinema, i should credit him as the genius of this wonderful film)