Festen (The Celebration) - English subtitled | With introduction
In Thomas Vinterberg’s classic debut feature, 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.
The delightfully uncomfortable Festen was the first feature film shot according to the rules of the Dogma 95 manifesto. Dogma 95 was an originally Danish alliance of filmmakers (including Lars von Trier) who took an ‘oath of purity’ and promised to abide by ten strict rules, including a ban on props, superficial action, added music and special effects.
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 Druk (2020).
The screening on 4 June at 8:00 is part of our Retro Reels: The '90s series. In an introduction head of programming Wouter Greven will talk about the manifest Dogma 95, an alliance between some Danish filmmakers, including Thomas Vinterberg and Lars von Trier. They wanted to return to simplicity and drew up ten strict rules to do so. Festen is not only the first Dogma film, but is also considered the most important of the movement.