Prize to Anders Hammer for the film "Do not split"

June 24 2020

This week, the documentary film “Do not split” about the protests in Hong Kong in 2019 won the jury’s special prize for AFI Docs, the American Film Institute’s documentary film festival.

The film has been directed by Anders Hammer and sheds light on the unrest in Hong Kong, on China’s attitude to demonstrations and democracy movements, and on the consequences this situation has for human rights the world over. The film portrays a Hong Kong stretched to the breaking point, where trust between the demonstrators and the authorities has disappeared altogether. “Do not split” emphasises what the demonstrators are fighting for, and what they are risking by doing so.

Excerpt from the jury’s account:

“From the opening sequence to the final frame, we were riveted by this film’s urgent and incendiary storytelling capturing a seminal moment in history.”

The Fritt Ord Foundation provided NOK 300 000 in support for this documentary film in 2019.

News

Eirin Larsen and Hadia Tajik join the Fritt Ord Board

August 5 2025

Eirin Larsen (36) and Hadia Tajik (42) bring valuable experience from journalism, technology, politics and jurisprudence to the Fritt Ord Board.

Making the film «Farouk» – on the geologist that secured Norway its oil

July 1 2025

Geologist Farouk Al-Kasim joined the the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate in 1968, shaping Norwegian petroleum resource management for decades afterwards. Now, documentary film director Halkawt Mustafa and producer Janne Hjeltnes are making a film about Al-Kasim’s life and reflections.
“Farouk tells me something in this film that he has not talked about before, because he has always told the version he feels Norway wanted to hear,” recounts Mustafa, who has Iraqi roots himself.

Read the interview with the director and see the list of grants awarded by Fritt Ord in June 2025.

Bård Vegar Solhjell new chair of the Fritt Ord Board

July 1 2025

Bård Vegar Solhjell (53) has taken over as the new chair of the Fritt Ord Foundation Board.

Cultural newspaper TBATBA.no and new journalism grants – June 2025

June 19 2025

– Cultural journalism is under pressure. Part of the problem is media outlets failing to cover culture in formats and ways that appeal to people under 30, says Ida Madsen Hestman, editor, freelance critic, and founder of TBATBA.no. Last year, she started the kind of publication she herself would want to read.

The magazine TBA is among those awarded funding in June 2025. See the full list of grants in Norsk Journalistikk.