Movies - The Celebration

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	Movies - The Celebration

The Celebration (original Danish title: Festen) (1998) is an acclaimed Danish movie, directed and written by Thomas Vinterberg, which centers around the resolving of deep family issues.

Much respected family patriarch and businessman Helge (Henning Moritzen) is celebrating his 60th birthday at a magnificent old hotel. Gathered together are his loyal wife Elsa, his daughter Helene, sons Michael and Christian (Ulrich Thomsen), and other guests.

After more than thirty years his son Christian breaks the spell of the loyalty to his father and receives in response from other guests and his family a dismay, disbelief, denial, insensitivity, re-victimization and hypocrisy. His battle with their responses to the truth reflects his inner struggle with the same truth within himself that he has managed to avoid for so long. The film shows the long lasting grip of consequences of the childhood sexual abuse by parental figures and domestic Stockholm syndrome.

The film is mostly known for being the first Dogme 95 film and thus its full title is Dogme 1 - The Celebration. Being a dogme film the movie has to follow strict rules in the production. The whole film must be shot on location that only uses natural lighting and the music should also be played live instead of dubbing it over later. The camera has to be handheld so that it can follow the actors more naturally, which gives the whole experience a shaky feel.

The Celebration's use of the dogme rules makes the film look like a home video. The overall effect is that it looks like a video that could have been taped at any 60th birthday, except for the story. This gives the film a very realistic feeling.

Stage adaptations

As of 2005 there have been Danish, German, French, Italian, Swedish, Polish, and Slovenian stage productions of the script. A version for stage adapted by David Eldridge, and directed by Rufus Norris, premiered at the Almeida Theatre in 2004, before transferring to a successful West End run at the Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue until April 2005. It commenced a UK tour in February 2006, before transferring to Broadway. It will also open in Melbourne in July 2006.

Awards

The Celebration won the following awards:

Amanda Awards, Norway (1998): Best Nordic Feature Film - Thomas Vinterberg
Bodil Awards (1999):

::* Best Actor - Ulrich Thomsen ::* Best Film - Thomas Vinterberg

Canberra International Film Festival (1999): Audience Award - Thomas Vinterberg
Cannes Film Festival (1998): Jury Prize - Thomas Vinterberg (Tied with Classe de neige, La (1998))
European Film Awards (1998): European Discovery of the Year - Thomas Vinterberg (Tied with Vie rêvée des anges, La (1998))
Gijón International Film Festival (1998): Best Director - Thomas Vinterberg
Guldbagge Awards (1999): Best Foreign Film - Thomas Vinterberg
Independent Spirit Awards (1999): Best Foreign Film - Thomas Vinterberg
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards (1998): Best Foreign Film - Thomas Vinterberg
Lübeck Nordic Film Days (1998):

::* Audience Prize of the "Lübecker Nachrichten" - Thomas Vinterberg ::* Baltic Film Prize for a Nordic Feature Film - Thomas Vinterberg ::* Prize of the Ecumenical Jury - Thomas Vinterberg

New York Film Critics Circle Awards (1998): Best Foreign Language Film - Thomas Vinterberg
Norwegian International Film Festival (1999): Best Foreign Film of the Year - Thomas Vinterberg
Robert Festival (1999):

::* Best Actor - Ulrich Thomsen ::* Best Cinematography - Anthony Dod Mantle ::* Best Editing - Valdís Óskarsdóttir ::* Best Film - Thomas Vinterberg ::* Best Screenplay - Thomas Vinterberg, Mogens Rukov ::* Best Supporting Actor - Thomas Bo Larsen ::* Best Supporting Actress - Birthe Neumann

Rotterdam International Film Festival (1999): Audience Award - Thomas Vinterberg
São Paulo International Film Festival (1998): Honorable Mention - Thomas Vinterberg

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for The Celebration ]

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