Five directors. Five feature films. Ten rules.
Directors Kurdwin Ayub, İlker Çatak, Nora Fingscheidt, Helene Hegemann, and Tom Tykwer just announced that they join forces as a group to create five independent films under DOGMA 25 GERMANY for a free and unpredictable cinema. In doing so, they are continuing the DOGMA 25, which was announced last year in Cannes by the five directors May el-Toukhy, Milad Alami, Annika Berg, Isabella Eklöf, and Jesper Just.
TrustNordisk is proud to announce that we will handle international sales on the upcoming films.
”We are really excited that the Dogma 25-initiative has now spread across the border to Germany, and with such a talented group of directors involved, we are very eager to see the creativity and stories they come up with. We are proud to be representing the films in this initiative as international sales agent, says Susan Wendt, Managing Director at TrustNordisk.
Ayub, Çatak, Fingscheidt, Hegemann, and Tykwer’s films – from SYSTEM CRASHER to AXOLOTL OVERKILL, RUN LOLA RUN, MOND, and THE TEACHERS’ LOUNGE all represent independent, vibrant auteur cinema and are among the most influential German-language films of the past three decades.
The director’s upcoming DOGMA 25 GERMANY-films will be realised under the DOGMA 25 vow of chastity and conditions revealed in Cannes last year, 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, and that the crew behind the camera may consist of no more than ten people.
(Please follow this link for more information).
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 TrustNordisk 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.
___________________________________________________________________
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.