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Rising to the challenge of Dogma 95s self-imposed restrictions on aesthetic freedom, Thomas Vinterbergs Festen is a remarkable example of the way limits can give rise to creative opportunity. (Dogma 95 is a vow of chastity sworn originally by a group of Danish film-makers, which also includes Lars von Trier, director of Breaking the Waves. The groups manifesto in which its members vow to eschew special lighting, optical effects, props and the visible imprint of a directors personality in order to attain higher truths yielded by characters.) Festen, shot with a small video camera and transferred to 35mm film, concerns a black-tie birthday gathering for a family patriarch, Helge (Henning Moritzen), which erodes into a battle after long-suppressed secrets are revealed and the chance to settle old scores presents itself. Among the grievances are an accusation of incest and the responsibility for the death of a child–gruesome stuff, but Vinterberg doesnt characterise the partying crowds reaction in quite the way one might have expected. In fact, the whole of Festen is about unexpected perspectives and vantage points emerging from out of nowhere, largely due to Vinterbergs free hand at editing the film in such a way as to yank truth from every corner. This is a strong work that belies scepticism over Dogma 95s bare-bones trendiness, and is perhaps a harbinger of great work to come from Vinterberg. –Tom Keogh, .