CURRENT TRENDS
»THE LEFT HAND-HELD CAMERA«
On the basis of films screened at this
year’s Venice Film Festival, Dragan Rubeša asserts that
there is a growing trend among contemporary authors to
follow the guidelines set out by Dogma 95. With its commitment
to purity, Dogma 95 has begun to function as a global media
attraction. Therefore, it is not surprising that its »subversive«
vows have fascinated representatives of America’s independent
production community regardless of whether their poetics
are governed exclusively by its principal rules, or by
strict adherence to all ten commandments.
Rubeša observes that one of the fundamental rules of Dogma
(which has, in turn, become its trademark), hand-held filming,
is being followed by an ever increasing number of film makers,
as well as by some television shows that want to create a
false documentary effect. However, since Rubeša cites that
many of the procedures stated in Dogma 95 were used much
earlier in film art, there remains the question of whether
Dogma 95 is a completely new way of approaching the moving
image or if it is merely a new twist on the forgotten practices
of the avant-garde. Dragan Rubeša |