Dänemark – Hollywood – Europa: Thomas Vinterberg und die Sezession von Dogma 95

Thomas Vinterberg is one of Scandinavia’s well-respected contemporary directors. His career is best noted for his involvement in the launch of the Dogma 95 Manifesto and it was his acclaimed Festen (DK 1998) that started the prolific film movement that followed. Yet, as this article shows, Vinterberg repeatedly tried to reinvent himself as an artist, taking on different genres, themes and aesthetic approaches. When his all-star science fiction film It’s All about Love (2003) and his pan-European co-productions met with the disapproval of critics and audiences alike, he returned to realist films. The subsequent success of his dramas – including Submarino (2010), Jagten (2012) and Druk (2020) – reinstated his status of an auteur filmmaker. The three films share a number of continuities, including a penchant for themes of homecoming, dysfunctional family relations and everyday socio-cultural conflicts within the limits of close-knit communities or circles of friends.