The Fritt Ord Foundation

The Fritt Ord Foundation is a private non-profit foundation that seeks to promote freedom of expression, public debate, art and culture.

Hovedbilde

No Other Land

February 23 2024

The Fritt Ord Foundation is collaborating with the Human International Documentary Film Festival and Antipode Films to screen ‘No Other Land’ at Vega Scene in Oslo on Monday, 4 March 2024 at 6 p.m. and 6:45 p.m., and at Cinemateket in Oslo on Tuesday, 5 March at 4 p.m. Directors Basel Adra and Yuval Abraham, who are also the film’s protagonists, will appear live on a video link from Masafar Yatta on the West Bank both days.

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Queendom - film and talk with Agniia Galdanova and Igor Myakotin

February 23 2024

The Fritt Ord Foundation and the HUMAN International Documentary Film Festival invite the public to a screening of ‘Queendom’ and a talk with director Agniia Galdanova and producer Igor Myakotin following the screening at Vega Scene 1 in Oslo on Saturday, 9 March 2024 at 5:45 p.m. The director will introduce the film.

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Norway banned Monty Python’s ‘Life of Brian’. Now a book about film censorship is in the pipeline

February 23 2024

Critic and writer Johanne Elster Hanson is making her debut as an author with a book about the time when Norwegian film censorship took the world by surprise, not least the Monty Python group of comedians, by banning the ‘Life of Brian’ satire film. The author would like to track down any Norwegians who went on a film safari to Sweden in 1980 to circumvent Norwegian censorship.

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Breathing new life into investigative journalism, even in small newsrooms

February 14 2024

In recent years, Norwegian journalists have gained access to powerful tools and new methods for investigative journalism, even in small newsrooms. New types of collaboration are producing results. How has all this happened? Fritt Ord asked this question in a debate seminar on 14 February.

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A new era for investigative journalism in Norway

January 25 2024

Local and regional newspapers are now conducting the type of investigations and making discoveries that used to be expected only from major national media. How did that happen? Fritt Ord invites the public to a debate seminar at 10 a.m. on 14 February.

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Broke with the Brunstad Christian Church. Now she is writing a play on closed religious communities

January 22 2024

Karin Kilden broke with the Brunstad Christian Church. Now she is writing a play for the theater Oslo Nye about it. Chemist and writer Unni Eikeseth writes about science and weapons production and folk dance star Brigitte Blomlie will use folk dance to break the silence on abuse. See new allocations from Fritt Ord.

Apply for Funding

Grants

The Fritt Ord Foundation is a private non-profit foundation that aspires to promote freedom of expression, public debate, art and culture. The projects that receive funding should benefit the Norwegian public and be accessible to all. In special cases, the Fritt Ord Foundation can help promote freedom of expression in other countries.

See the grants list

Selected grants

Skjermbilde 2023 11 29 kl. 11.51.24
DER Media as
Norsk journalistikk: DER tidsskrift - Tospråklig norsk-arabisk tidsskrift
Tidsskrift
Den skinnenes byen teater
Espen Klouman Høiner
teateroppsetningen "Made in China"
Teater
Skjermbilde 2023 11 16 kl. 12.31.13
Motforestillinger (MOFO)
teaterprosjektet "Motforestillinger" på HUMAN 24
Teater
Skjermbilde 2023 11 29 kl. 10.52.41
Nora Svalheim
Turné for teateroppsetningen "Jeg er en Hedde"
Teater
Teater manu
Teater Manu
teateroppsetningen "Ned med hendene"
Teater
Toni usman
Toni Usman Produksjoner
teateroppsetningen "Dødsstraff"
Teater
Dscf7468web
Log Prosjekt og Design
Utstilling med Maria Kulikovska – "My Body is a Battlefield "
Utstilling
Skjermbilde 2023 03 10 kl. 18.24.55
The Norwegian Helsinki Committee
Commemoration of the war in Ukraine - exhibition and events
Utstilling

‘Ukraine’s struggle for freedom’ at the Albin Upp Gallery in Oslo marks one year since a full-scale invasion was mounted on 24 February 2022.

Skjermbilde 2023 03 10 kl. 18.29.00
Human Rights House Foundation
Guest performance featuring a Ukrainian theatre troupe, ‘War through the eyes of Ukrainian artists’
Teater

The Ukrainian play ‘Imperium delendum est’ by Lesia Ukrainka Theater of Lviv will be performed in Oslo.

Skjermbilde 2023 04 28 kl. 10.06.10
International Creativity Workshop AS
International Creativity Workshop AS Polish Film Week’s 10th anniversary
Festival

Polish Film Week is scheduled to take place in Moss on 26-27 August, Fredrikstad on 8-15 October, and Oslo on 20 October. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the festival, and this year Ukraine and Mexico are also included in the programme. “There will also be a Polish-Norwegian conference on the importance of culture in integration," states festival director Magdalena Tutka.

Skjermbilde 2023 04 28 kl. 10.12.46
Ordkalotten International Literature Festival
Ordkalotten International Literature Festival 2023
Festival

This year’s Ordkalotten International Literature Festival will be held in Tromsø from 9-11 November and, as always, it will focus on two main profiles – one dead and one living. This year, the authors are Sissel Solbjørg Bjugn and Herbjørg Wassmo and the theme is ‘Legacy’.

The recovery channel signaturbilde
Twentyone Pictures
Formidling av filmen "The Recovery Channel"
Film, formidling

Prizes

Projects

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Research

Fritt Ord has taken the initiative for several research projects on freedom of expression that have been conducted by various Norwegian research communities. Among other things, the studies have examined social norms and political tolerance in respect of statements, online harassment and polarisation, artistic freedom of expression and freedom of expression in the workplace.

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Documentary Photography

Over the years, Fritt Ord has worked to strengthen the position of documentary photography through special calls for applications for funding, providing ongoing support for photo books and exhibitions, and establishing projects like The Norwegian Journal of Photography.

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Libraries, Encyclopaedia, and Houses of Literature

Fritt Ord has launched various initiatives related to the communication of knowledge and the promotion of literature, including an annual subsidy scheme earmarked for Norwegian public libraries. In 2005, the Foundation took the initiative to establish Norway’s first house of literature and, in 2010, to ensure the further operation of Store norske leksikon.

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International Projects

Fritt Ord takes part in a number of joint projects outside the borders of Norway, primarily related to freedom of the press, democracy building and the strengthening of organisations of civil society.

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Young People and Students

Fritt Ord offers grants for students working on master’s theses or on documentary films in fields such as human rights, journalism, freedom of expression and democracy building. It also hosts the Fritt Ord Foundation Competition for Upper Secondary Schools and the Norwegian Historical Society’s competition for pupils.

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Media and Journalism

Since its inception, Fritt Ord has had media and journalism as one of its core target areas. In today’s demanding media situation, the Foundation has set up separate grant and subsidy schemes for journalists and critics.

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Publications

Books and reports published by the Fritt Ord Foundation, alone or with partners.