A feast should be a time of celebration, but what happens when the guests bring their own beef to the table? In this program, we explore disastrous dinner parties, where the diners get on each other’s nerves, lurk at the edges of the table or erupt into fights. Amidst laughter and the clinking of wine glasses, these films dish out deep crises, aching emptiness, and a sense of disconnect in the tragicomic lives of their privileged attendees. Tonight we dig in to Thomas Vinterberg's dizzying drama The Celebration (1998).

The Klingenfeldt-Hansen family gathers around patriarch Helge (Henning Moritzen) on his 60th birthday for a night of celebration in their countryside mansion. But a shadow hangs over the party, as Helge’s daughter Linda has recently killed herself. To make matters worse, the party takes a truly unexpected turn when eldest son Christian (Ulrich Thomsen) raises a toast and candidly unveils a dour secret from the family’s past. Christian’s scorching accusations are met with surreal impassivity and disbelief by the bourgeois gathering, who are determined to silence an inconvenient truth. Winner of the Jury Prize at Cannes in 1998, Vinterberg’s acclaimed drama is a searing tale of collective denial of familial abuse. Festen is also the first realization of Dogme 95’s stylistic manifesto, which preached a religious purification of filmmaking through the exclusive use of handheld cameras, natural light, and location shooting. Working within these austere restrictions, Vinterberg deploys eccentric cinematography, combining frenzied handheld sequences with disconcerting security camera-like shots which potently drive the narrative tension building at this increasingly dyspeptic dinner party. Watch the trailer.

Directed by Thomas Vinterberg, 1998, Denmark, 105 minutes. In Danish & English w/ English subtitles.

Bar opens @ 18:30.
Entry is €5