Festen
Delightfully uncomfortable debut feature by Thomas Vinterberg (Another Round), in which a festive dinner derails when son Christian makes a shocking announcement about his father during a speech.
Successful businessman Helge Klingenfeldt-Hansen celebrates his sixtieth birthday with a magnificent party. The fact that his daughter committed suicide six months earlier should not spoil the fun. The party initially goes as planned, but when son Christian takes the floor to address his father, the mood radically changes.
This iconic debut was the first feature film shot according to the rules of the Dogma 95 manifesto. Festen had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival and was an enormous success. The film won the Jury Prize and established director Thomas Vinterberg’s reputation. The overwhelmed Vinterberg needed more than a decade to reach this level again, but managed to fulfil the promise of his debut with Jagten (2012) and Another Round (2020), which won the Oscar for best international feature film.
This film is English subtitled.