I Survived a Dogme95

This weekend is my last full weekend in Copenhagen! It's cold again, about 5-6 degrees Celsius and it is supposed to rain ALL weekend long! I think I visited every park, museum, castle and tourist attraction there is to see in this cute little city so I am looking forward to just taking it easy.

Tonight I went over my co-worker's house and watched a Danish movie called "Italian for Beginners." The actors were Danish and it had English subtitles. The movie falls into this Dogme 95 category of movies which was created by some Danish directors who wanted to prove that good movies could be made without all the fancy special effects of modern day movies. I'm not completely convinced.... I think the movie had an ok story line and the acting was actually decent but the camera was shaky and the video quality felt like something from America's Funniest Home Videos. According to Wikipedia... to be considered a Dogme 95 movie, the video must follow these rules:

1. Filming must be done on location. Props and sets must not be brought in. If a particular prop is necessary for the story, a location must be chosen where this prop is to be found.
2. The sound must never be produced apart from the images or vice versa. Music must not be used unless it occurs within the scene being filmed, i.e.
3. The camera must be a hand-held camera. Any movement or immobility attainable in the hand is permitted. The film must not take place where the camera is standing; filming must take place where the action takes place.
4. The film must be in colour. Special lighting is not acceptable (if there is too little light for exposure the scene must be cut or a single lamp be attached to the camera).
5. Optical work and filters are forbidden.
6. The film must not contain superficial action (murders, weapons, etc. must not occur.)
7. Temporal and geographical alienation are forbidden (that is to say that the film takes place here and now).
8. Genre movies are not acceptable.
9. The final picture must be transferred to the Academy 35mm film, with an aspect ratio of 4:3, that is, not widescreen. Originally, the requirement was that the film had to be filmed on Academy 35mm film, but the rule was relaxed to allow low-budget productions.
10. The director must not be credited.

After the movie we hung out and watched a little TV. In Denmark they have a children's channel with lots of cartoons, Disney shows, Sesame street and Blue's Clues-type shows etc. After a certain time of day (I think maybe 8pm) they stop airing the children's shows. In the evening they only show clips of the hosts and characters from the children's shows sound asleep in their beds. They even have a count down to wake-up time running along the top of the screen! I think they show these clips of sleeping people all night long from 8pm-8am. So Danish children have no excuse to stay up late watching TV. I thought that was funny.

Here are some pictures from my going away dinner:

Sandra, Birgitte, Birgitte, Charlotte


Rune, Jakob, Karsten


Me, Vibe, Helle

Vibe, Helle, Anne

Hans Christian, Anne, Sussie