PRESS RELEASE: The Dogma 25 Movement Reaches Germany

Five directors. Five feature films. Ten rules. Kurdwin Ayub, İlker Çatak, Nora Fingscheidt, Helene Hegemann, and Tom Tykwer have joined forces as a group to create five independent films under DOGMA 25 for a free and unpredictable cinema. This was announced today by X Filme Creative Pool, Zentropa Germany and if…productions during the Cannes Film Festival. In doing so, they are continuing the DOGMA 25 movement, which was announced last year in Cannes by five Danish directors (May el-Toukhy, Milad Alami, Annika Berg, Isabella Eklöf, and Jesper Just).

Kurdwin Ayub, İlker Çatak, Nora Fingscheidt, Helene Hegemann, and Tom Tykwer. Their films – from RUN LOLA RUN to SYSTEM CRASHER, AXOLOTL OVERKILL, MOND, and THE TEACHERS’ LOUNGE – represent independent, vibrant auteur cinema and are among the most influential German-language films of the past three decades. DOGMA 25 arrives at a time when cinema faces major structural challenges: productions are becoming more expensive, financing increasingly fragmented and complex, while studios worldwide are prioritizing safety over innovation. DOGMA 25 creates a counterpoint where filmmakers can freely express themselves, beyond calculated expectations.

When the first DOGMA movement was launched in 1995, cinema was at a similar juncture. Directors such as Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg formulated one of the most influential cinematic interventions of recent decades with the DOGMA rules. This gave rise to films such as THE CELEBRATION, THE IDIOTS, and ITALIAN FOR BEGINNERS (Lone Scherfig) – works that remain landmarks of European auteur cinema to this day.

DOGMA 95 was never merely an aesthetic strategy; rather, it was an approach to making films free from conventional economic and formal constraints. DOGMA 25 picks up on this approach three decades later, at a time when algorithmically optimized content, artificially generated images, and standardized production processes are increasingly shaping the film landscape.

The new DOGMA manifesto sets out clear conditions for this: for instance, that a film must be completed within twelve months of the first idea being put in writing, that the screenplay must be handwritten, or that the crew behind the camera may consist of no more than ten people. (All rules are listed below).

Following the Danish model the plan is to secure a base financing for all five films. On board are X Verleih as the German-language distributor and Trust Nordisk as the international sales agent. ZDF and ARTE are planned to enter as the broadcasting partners, while MOIN Film Fund has been confirmed as the first regional funding body.

The German DOGMA movement is emerging as a co-production between X Filme Creative Pool and Zentropa Germany. On the part of X Filme, the project is produced by Jorgo Narjes, Uwe Schott, and Tom Tykwer; on the part of Zentropa Germany, by Solmaz Azizi, Louise Vesth, and Tine Mikkelsen. The feature film by İlker Çatak is overseen by Ingo Fliess as producer. It is a co-production of if…Productions, X Filme, and Zentropa Germany.

DOGMA 25 is an invitation to reimagine cinema as an adventure, as a vibrant, risky, and collective process – and thus as a contribution to the future of European cinema. Five directors, five feature films, five radically different perspectives.

Press Contact:
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Regine Baschny, JUST PUBLICITY
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About DOGMA 25
In May last year – exactly 30 years after DOGMA 95 – five prominent filmmakers initiated the DOGMA 25 movement. The collective consists of the danish directors May el-Toukhy, Milad Alami, Annika Berg, Isabella Eklöf, and Jesper Just. The five filmmakers have united around a shared manifesto and a new Vow of Chastity consisting of ten new dogmas, designed to defend the artistic integrity of the feature film and create space for uncompromising cinematic storytelling in a new era. Drawing on their respective artistic practices, the five directors have established a framework for bold and uncompromising cinematic narratives that insist on presence, necessity, and integrity – as both a collective movement and an individual challenge.

THE VOW OF CHASTITY:
I vow to submit to the following set of rules drawn up and confirmed by DOGMA 25 :

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. No more than 10 people behind the camera.
We commit to working in close collaborations to build trust and strengthen our shared vision.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. Create the film as if it were your last

About the directors
İlker Çatak had his international breakthrough with THE TEACHERS LOUNGE in 2023 which received international acclaim and was nominated for an Academy Award® in the Best International Feature Film category in 2024. This was followed by YELLOW LETTERS for which he took home the Golden Berlin Bear for Best Film at the Berlin International Film Festival earlier this year.

Kurdwin Ayub received the award for Best First Feature Film at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2022 for the feature SONNE. In 2024 she directed MOON which took home several awards including the Special Jury Prize at the Locarno Film Festival in 2024.

Nora Fingscheidt took home the Silver Berlin Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival for her feature film SYSTEM CRASHER in 2019. The film became Germany’s official submission for the Academy Awards in the Best International Feature Film category in 2020. Since then, she has directed THE UNFORGIVABLE in 2021 and THE OUTRUN in 2024, the latter for which she was nominated for 1 BAFTA for Outstanding British Film of the Year.

Helene Hegemann had her feature debut in 2017 with AXOLOTL OVERKILL which was selected for Sundance Film Festival. Hegemann has also directed episodes of series such as STRAFE and ZEIT CRIME. Besides directing, Hegemann is also a renowned novelist and theater and opera director.

Tom Tykwer’s career spans over more than three decades. His feature film debut came with DEADLY MARIA in 1993 which was followed by WINTER SLEEPERS and the multiple award-winning film RUN LOLA RUN, which became an instant box office hit and took home awards at prestigious festivals such as the World Cinema Audience Award at Sundance in 1999 and earned Tykwer a BAFTA-nomination. He has over the years directed several English language feature films such as PERFUME: THE STORY OF A MURDERER, CLOUD ATLAS and was also the director behind the popular TV series BABYLON BERLIN. His latest film, THE LIGHT, opened the Berlin International Film Festival in 2025.