Making a dogma film made perfect sense

DANISH DIRECTOR QUOTES. The idea of making a Dogma film made perfect sense to Annette K. Olesen, one of the 17 directors interviewed in Danish Directors 2, a new volume giving an inside perspective of how infrastructure, working methods and film policy enable a small film nation like Denmark to thrive.

During the coming weeks we will be bringing director quotes from the new volume: Danish Directors 2, a collection of interviews with Danish filmmakers, enlightening us on how their craft has developed and managed to thrive against the competition from Hollywood.

We begin with Annette K. Olesen, whose feature film debut was made according to the rules of the Dogma 95 manifesto. Olesen talks about authenticity in her characters, and says:

Factbox

Feature films by Annette K. Olesen
2002: Minor Mishaps
2004: In Your Hands
2006: One to One
2008: Little Soldier

Articles in the magazine FILM#
Real life is always another story

About Dogme 95
PDF of FILM# Special/Dogme
 dogme_100

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Read the entire interview with Annette K. Olesen in the volume 'The Danish Directors 2: Dialogues on the New Danish Fiction Cinema' (Mette Hjort, Eva Jørholt & Eva Novrup Redvall, Intellect, June 2010). Available at Film & Bookstore online


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"Through "Minor Mishaps" I'd developed a way of working with actors that harmonized perfectly with the Dogma approach. "Minor Mishaps" taught me that an actor's deep connection with a character almost always is more interesting than whatever opinions I might have about that character. If the actors have worked very thoroughly with their characters, then their understanding of their characters becomes my way of guaranteeing that the film's performances, and thus the film, have a certain truthfulness and authenticity. I don't have to be omniscient as director. I don't have to know everything about each and every character, or about the story. The Dogma rules support this approach to directing."

Annette K. Olesen talking to Mette Hjort in The Danish Directors 2

About Annette K. Olesen

Olesen, born in 1965, is a graduate of the National Film School. Three of her four feature films were selected for competition at Berlin International Film Festival. Her feature film debut "Minor Mishaps" (2002) won the Blue Angel Award. Her fourth feature film "Little Soldier" (2008) won four honours at Valladolid film festival.