Three decades after the first DOGME wave, five prominent filmmakers are launching a new movement: DOGME 25. The collective, founded in May 2025, includes directors May el-Toukhy, Milad Alami, Annika Berg, Isabella Eklöf, and Jesper Just. It is a response crafted in light of today’s reality.
With a shared manifesto and vow of chastity, the five filmmakers aim to renegotiate the conditions under which films are made—at a time when productions and crews are expanding, processes accelerating, and technological aesthetics dominating, ultimately yielding less cinematic substance for the money. The goal is to assert the artistic value of film and create works shaped on the film medium’s own terms.
“We honor DOGME 95 and all the filmmakers who came before us—as well as those yet to come. We fight the same battle for artistic freedom as a defense against meaninglessness and powerlessness. DOGME 25 is a rescue mission. DOGME 25 is a cultural mobilization and a defense of what we hold dear,” the manifesto states.
DOGME 25, initiated by May el-Toukhy, who brought the five directors together, is receiving strong support from the industry. Zentropa, DR, and Nordisk Film Distribution are backing the project’s base funding, while the Danish Film Institute is supporting the development of the concept, manifesto, and production methods. TrustNordisk will handle international sales and ensure the films reach a broad, global audience.
Tine Fischer, Director of the Danish Film Institute, says:
“All systems—even those that seem to function flawlessly—need to be revisited. They must be challenged. They need to see themselves through a courageous lens. Danish cinema has, over the recent decades, made a strong international mark with multiple Oscar and Cannes nominations, holding a unique position in our local market. We’re known globally as a strong film nation, and Danes at home love Danish cinema. But no success is guaranteed forever. DOGME 95 turned the world’s eyes toward Denmark 30 years ago and left a radical mark on our national identity as a leading film nation. It involved only a handful of people and a limited number of films—but the impact was enormous. Today, more than ever, we need brave visions—visions suited to a new era. That’s exactly what DOGME 25 represents: a strong team of markedly different filmmakers united in a commitment to artistic radicalism. How do we develop films today? How do we ensure the freedom to express ourselves in a geopolitically challenged world? How do we preserve the unique mission of art? As the Danish Film Institute enters a new era—with a cultural mandate to safeguard world-class Danish cinema for the future—our job is not simple. But deep within that task lies the system’s ability to make room for free film art, innovation, and perspective. That’s why we’re particularly pleased and proud to support DOGME 25 in its early phase, both in developing the concept and in launching it internationally in Cannes.”
Manifesto
DOGMA 25 is a collective of filmmakers founded in Copenhagen in the spring of 2025. Our stated purpose is to preserve the originality of cinema and the opportunity to create film on its own terms.
The role of the director has increasingly been reduced to that of project manager, the film to a commodity, and the audience to consumers. Experimental practice is stifled by fear of risktaking, which suffocates artistic exploration and silences unique voices. When films are merely executed and not allowed to evolve organically, it puts the art form in danger of becoming functional, obedient and thereby irrelevant.
In a world where formulaic films based on algorithms and artificial visual expression are gaining traction, it’s our mission to stand up for the flawed, distinct, and human imprint.
We champion the uncompromising and unpredictable and we fight the forces working to reduce cinematic art to an ultra-processed consumer good.
By scaling down production, we ensure that everyone on the team has an intimate relationship with the film and its message. This will enhance mutual trust and a sense of collective responsibility for the film and for each other. It also allows us to safeguard the flexibility that is vital in making a creative process dynamic and intuitive, rather than purely executive.
We celebrate DOGMA 95, all the filmmakers who came before us, and those who will come after. We stand together to defend artistic freedom as a shield against pointlessness and powerlessness. DOGMA 25 is a rescue mission and a cultural uprising.
To protect and preserve what we hold dear, we hereby submit to the unflinching and unbreakable set of rules called: THE VOW OF CHASTITY.
The 2025 Vow of Chastity
I promise to submit myself to the following set of rules devised and confirmed by DOGME 25:
- The script must be original and handwritten by the director.
We compel ourselves to write the script by hand in order to nurture the kind of intuition that flows most freely from the dream, channelled through the hand onto the paper.
- At least half the film must be without dialogue.
We insist on a cinematic approach to filmmaking, because we believe in visual storytelling and have faith in the audience
- The internet is off limits in all creative processes.
We commit to produce the films relying on real people within our physical reality – rather than in a digital one infused with algorithms.
- We’ll only accept funding with no content altering conditions attached.
We assume responsibility for keeping budgets down so the team retains final say in all artistic decisions.
- No more than 10 people behind the camera.
We commit to working in close collaborations to build trust and strengthen our shared vision.
- The film must be shot where the narrative takes place.
Film as an art form becomes artificial and generic when we portray a location in a false light.
- We’re not allowed to use make-up or manipulate faces and bodies unless it’s part of the narrative.
Just as we strive to maintain the authenticity of the location, we also want to portray the human body without a filter. We celebrate it – warts and all.
- Everything relating to the film’s production must be rented, borrowed, found, or used.
We commit to making films using objects that already exist and renounce the ahistorical and self-destructive culture of consumerism.
- The film must be made in no more than one year.
We abstain from any lengthy processes that stand in the way of creative flow.
- Create the film as if it were your last.
