January/February 1999

Without a doubt, 1998 was a breakthrough year for digital filmmaking. Makers took notice as digital video (DV) projects such as Thomas Vinterberg's The Celebration and Bennett Miller's documentary The Cruise secured theatrical releases from major distributors (October Films and Artisan Entertainment respectively). Miramax released Michael Moore's The Big One, which included DV footage. Zeitgeist unveiled Ulrike Koch's powerful DV documentary, The Saltmen of Tibet.

After three years of operation, the Sundance Channel seems finally to have found its voice and in the process become a haven for risk-taking filmmakers who often don't have anywhere else to go.

It began almost a lark. Tired of the routines of the filmmaking process four Danish directors decided to set themselves a challenge. "We talked about all that bored us in filmaking, all that we normally do–and then we forbade it. It was liberating," recalls 29-year-old director Thomas Vinterberg, one of the authors of what’s grandiosely dubbed "Dogma 95."