Every family has a secret

This landmark saga of familial disintegration was the first film to adhere to the DOGME95 Manifesto, and remains the most accessible work in the genre, winning a swag of international awards including the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Filmed in real time, director Thomas Vinterberg's chilling examination of a family celebration has all the hallmarks of the Dogme movement - handheld cameras, unforced dramatics and powerful realism. We are introduced to the affluent Klingenfeldt family on the eve of the patriarch's 60th birthday but with the strange death of his daughter destabilising the precarious family equilibrium, the celebration is thrown into turmoil following a shocking revelation. Featuring brilliant performances from a top-notch Danish cast, Festen cracks an upper class facade of wealth, power and propriety by revealing the hidden pasts and broken lives simmering within.