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The Celebration

Original title: Festen · Turkish title: Şölen

“Every family has a secret.”

1998 · 1 h 41 min
Directed by Thomas Vinterberg
Drama

Cast

Ulrich Thomsen Henning Moritzen Thomas Bo Larsen Paprika Steen

Credits

Written by: Thomas Vinterberg Mogens Rukov

Plot

The Klingelfeldt family gathers at a country hotel to celebrate the sixtieth birthday of its patriarch. During the dinner, the eldest son, Christian, gives a speech that reveals a terrible family secret, and the party descends into chaos. Thomas Vinterberg's 1998 film, known in Danish as Festen, was the first Dogme 95 film, shot on handheld video, and won the Jury Prize at Cannes.

Sinekatalog’s take

Thomas Vinterberg's Dogme 95 drama begins at a family birthday and turns into a confrontation over a dark secret. Handheld, raw and uncomfortable, it is one of the movement's defining films.Sinekatalog’s own editorial review – not a user or critic quote.

Ratings

IMDb: 8.0 / 10 (101,056 votes)
IMDb rating and vote count from the IMDb ratings dataset (October 2026). Scores change over time.

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