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.
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.
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.
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.
“The huge success of Norwegian TV series has enabled them to address difficult issues and to unleash the voices of minorities and women more often in TV series than in films,” says media expert Gry Cecilie Rustad. She is planning to write a book about the history of Norwegian TV series. In Myanmar, the TV station the ‘Democratic Voice of Burma’ continues its fight against the propaganda of the military junta in the country. See the list of new grants awarded in December.
Tvibit and Fritt Ord invite the public to a debate and talk at Tvibit in Tromsø (address: Parkgata 27) at 4.30 p.m. on Friday, 19 January, prior to the documentary film ‘Ibelin’ about the gamer Mats Steen, which will be screened that evening at 7.15 p.m. at the Tromsø Film Festival. The event is open to all.
The Fritt Ord Foundation invites nominations for potential candidates for the Fritt Ord Prize 2024.
Why is it so important for the people of Finnmark to be ‘king of their own castle’? Photographer Ingerid Jordal has asked herself this question in four exhibitions planned for 2024, while the ‘shotgun wedding’ of the former separate counties of Troms and Finnmark is to be ‘annulled’. Three photographers portray motherhood, and Persian poetry is explored as a political force in Iran. See the list of new grants awarded by Fritt Ord.
“Those of us who do not live in cities also deserve access to rich public discourse,” says Tora Hope, editor of Jaja, a new journal about narratives based in the village of Fjaler in western Norway. The student newspaper Universitas has received funding to examine the situation for freedom of expression at educational institutions, and photojournalist Nora Savosnick has been on a reporting trip to Israel and Palestine. See the new grants for journalism (list in Norwegian only).
The Fritt Ord Foundation, Masahat for Arab Culture in Exile, and Vega Scene cordially invite the public to a conversation on Wednesday, 29 November 2023 from 6 – 8 p.m. at Vega Scene in Hausmanns gate 30, Oslo.
“It takes differences of opinion to have a debate. When the stakes are high, discussions pick up momentum, but a high level of conflict combined with an irreconcilable tone raises concerns about democracy per se,” says author and social geographer Anja Sletteland, who has earned a PhD in ‘deadlocked debates’. The controversy surrounding the NRK programme Brainwash got her interested in debates ‘that go bananas’, and in cancellations. Now she is writing a book about why this happens and how to avoid sliding into perpetual trench warfare, where no one listens to each other. See the grants that Fritt Ord awarded in October (list in Norwegian only).
Fritt Ord’s project ‘Islam in Norway’ invites the public to an open debate and discussion on male roles in Muslim communities, with a special focus on the situation of boys. The event will be held on Thursday, 9 November 2023, from 6 to 7.30 p.m. in ‘Skramsalen’ at the House of Literature, Wergelandsveien 29, Oslo.
The report Fritt Ord commissioned on the media coverage of the 22 July terrorist attacks from 2011 to 2022 has been nominated for the AMEC Awards.
For more than two years, seven photographers have explored doomsday dreamers, a forgotten grandfather, fast fashion, Moria refugees, trans families, northern Norwegian roots and ‘deep ecology photography’. On Thursday, 12 October, the sixth edition of the long-term documentary projects associated with the Norwegian Journal of Photography was presented at the Vega Scene venue during the Mirage Film Festival.
Join us for a master class in collaboration with Norwegian Journal of Photography and Mirage featuring star photographer Michael Christopher Brown, where he will let us in on his latest AI projects and share the thoughts behind them. He will talk about how he works with AI technology, and the challenges it poses for photographers and the industry. This is a unique opportunity to hear from an expert and gain insights into the future of photography and technology
Friday, 13 October 2023, 7.30 p.m. – 9.00 p.m.
Vega Scene 1, Oslo
“We have failed,” wrote VG. “The courts are the last institution still held sacred by the press,” commented TV2. Many admissions and regrets were expressed when the report on the media coverage of the Baneheia case was presented at the Norwegian Press House on Tuesday.