WHAT:
CRITICS WITHOUT BORDERS, Nordic countries – Maghreb region 2018, October 5-9
Critics Without Borders is a cultural exchange project with film critics and writers from the Arab world and the Nordic region. In total, 15 critics will participate in the project. The workshop will be
WHY:
Censorship and self-censorship have always been issues that writers, journalists and critics have struggled with. Self-censorship is an issue not only for Arab film critics, but also for writers from the Nordic countries. Journalists in the Nordic countries that write about sensitive political issues, such as immigration or women’s rights, have experienced a rise in threats from extremists in recent years. The problem of self-censorship is therefore highly relevant in a discussion of democracy and the freedom of speech both in the Nordic and Arab countries. We believe that film criticism and cultural writing can be important tools in bringing about change and working towards democratisation. Today we live in a society that always has information at their fingertips, but this society does not always examine this information. The role of the film critic is to examine the film, put it in perspective and in context.
We want to turn the attention to the critics since they have the special power of highlighting important societal issues.
- The film market is a male-dominated field, and it is vital therefore that film critics engage in discussions of gender inequality and discrimination. We will strive to have gender equality among the participants and a mix of ages.
- All critics must struggle with some sort of censorship, we want to examine what censorship means in different contexts.
- Democracy and freedom through film, what does this mean?
HOW:
Before the workshop project, all participants will have time to read and look at each
Critics Without Borders, Nordic countries – Maghreb region 2018
Critics Without Borders, Nordic countries- Maghreb region 2018 seeks to highlight the role that film criticism can play in strengthening democracy and the freedom of speech. Some would argue that the genre of film criticism is not affected by the tough media climate and assume that film criticism is “merely” about art, references and opinions. The aim of Critics Without Borders is to disconcert such views. The project aims to show, discuss, and highlight how film and film criticism can be highly important in strengthening democracy and the freedom of speech. The problem that the project seeks to address is how film criticism can play a role in bringing about change and raise awareness about delicate political and social issues. The project will discuss the role of the film critic in the contemporary media landscape and debate issues concerning how to handle censorship and self-censorship.
In advance of the project days in Malmö, the participants will have time to read and look at each others previous work, as well as prepare for discussing themes of democracy, freedom of speech and censorship/self-censorship. During the workshop, the participants will enter discussions about these themes. Some discussions will be for the participants only, some will be public. They will also take part in seminars and master classes. At each debate or discussion, the proceedings will be documented. The product of this workshop, as we see it, will be a paper that ties together the five days of workshops. The paper will be based on the documented discussions and debates and it will be written by three of the participants. The publication will be bilingual (English and Arabic), and published on our website.
The prospect of making the participants’ debates and panel discussions