Advocacy, Artistic Freedom, News
Stop censoring our fellow Faroese filmmakers!
To Uttanríkis- og mentamálaráðið, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Culture
Att. Jenis av Rana
We are deeply concerned by the Faroese Minister of Culture’s, Jenis av Rana, once again, overruling and censorship of a film project that was already granted funding by the Faroese Film Fund. We first addressed the problem last December when Jenis av Rana also denied funding to the animated film “Skúla Scam” and we are shocked that this is happening again as it is an attack on artistic freedom. Especially when the denied funding is based on the minister’s personal interpretation of decency.
Now, once again this issue has risen concerning the project called “Sæla”, by film director Katrin Joensen-Næs. “Sæla” circles around the theme of female sex addiction.
In solidarity with the Faroese film makers, we call for immediate protection of arts funding from political censorship. We urge the Faroese politicians to separate arts funding from political interference in specific projects.
Also, the recurring political censorship obstructs the access of Faroese film production to foreign collaborations and funding opportunities because we, and other film colleagues, obviously, cannot collaborate with a system in risk of political interference.
It is, absolutely, essential to separate the funding systems for arts and culture: The funding consultants ought to freely be able to grant the funding, based on an artistic evaluation without political interference.
Once again, we experience that political interference in funding systems equals censorship and the risk of self-censorship of the artists. Unfortunately, this will lead to less diversity and quality in art and culture. The Faroe Islands has a strong and unique culture that deserves artistic freedom free from censorship.
As we value and fight for artistic freedom all over the world, we would like to discuss this further with you. Please, do not hesitate to contact us.
Kind regards,
Freemuse, FERA – Federation of European Screen Directors, Film.GL – Greenland Film Makers, Danish Artists’ Council & The Danish Film Directors