Lapp Hat uncensored – Sami policy and political debate in Finnmark County?

December 22 2010

The Fritt Ord Foundation invites the public to a debate on and film screening of ‘Lapp Hat’ on Wednesday, 12 January 2011, from 5 to 7 p.m. at Uranienborgveien 2 in Oslo. There will be an introduction and a debate featuring director Guro Saniola Bjerk and Bjørn Sørenssen, professor of Film Science, Einar Niemi, professor of History and Anne Julie Semb, associate professor of Political Science.

Guro Saniola Bjerk’s documentary film ‘Lapp Hat’ directs critical attention to Norway’s Sami policy and its repercussions in Finnmark County, where the first comprehensive Sami policy measures were implemented, and where the Sami policy debate has been especially intense. The film has attracted a great deal of attention at a number of film festivals in Norway over the past year. The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation has already postponed the screening of the film twice.

Introductions to the debate:

Guro Saniola Bjerk: “The director – seeker of truth or provocateur?”
Einar Niemi, professor of History (University of Tromsø): “Sami policy, society and history in Finnmark County”
Anne Julie Semb, associate professor of Political Science (University of Oslo): “The Sámediggi (Sami Parliament) and double political membership: Normative questions and empirical finds?”

Moderator Bjørn Sørenssen, professor of Film Science (Norwegian University of Science and Technology): “Lapp Hat: The documentary film essay and the myth about the objective documentary film”

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