Videos

A question on artistic freedom - A UNESCO film

This short film was developed in conjunction with an interactive documentary project aiming to mobilize the international debate on freedom of artistic expression. The project confronts policy makers, artists and cultural actors from different countries and backgrounds with critical issues around the status of artistic freedom in societies. The film includes ICORN writers and artists cartoonist Eaten Fish/Ali Dorani, poets Fatemeh Ekhtesari and Mehdi Mousavi, poet and journalist Manal Al Sheikh and ICORN protection manager, Marianne Hovdan. 

UNESCO understands artistic freedom as a complex area of issues to promote the right of artists and cultural professionals to create, produce and distribute diverse cultural expressions and the right of citizens to have access to these works. For more info visit en.unesco.org/creativity. 

Bangladesh: a country where blogging can get you killed

Secular writers and bloggers are being hacked to death in the streets of Bangladesh for sharing their views online. But the government seems to tolerate the violence. Tutul, who came to Skien city of refuge with the ICORN programme, fled his country after he was brutally attacked. He tells a short version of the story here. 

This video was published by The Economist  on 22 Aug 2017.  

The Camp - PJ Harvey and Ramy Essam

PJ Harvey and Ramy Essam have come together to write and record ‘The Camp’ - a track which they hope will raise awareness and much needed support towards the health and educational well-being of displaced children in the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon. 

Generation of faithless monks - Irakli Kakabadze

Irakli Kakabadze is a Georgian writer, performer and human rights activist. ICORN writer-in-residence in Barcelona, he participated in Synesthesia, Barcelona’s second video poetry exhibition, with his Generation of Faithless Monks. His poem performed in the film expresses a strong critique of the church, but also of the behaviour and attitude of our society in general.

#180sec Barcelona: Writer in Exile

Pursued by Hamas, the Palestinian writer Basem Al-Nabriss found in Barcelona the peace that he wishes for his country. Waiting impatiently for a better future, he writes.

Svetlana Alexievich on the conditions for writers and artists in exile

Svetlana Alexievich received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2015. She was ICORN writer in residence in Gothenburg from 2006-2008 and godmother to the ICORN General Assembly and 10 years anniversary celebrated in Paris City Hall in March 2016. In this film, she addresses the participants.

ICORN: la liberté d'expression à l'honneur à Paris

ICORN celebrated the 10 years anniversary during the ICORN General Assembly in Paris in March/April 2016. Here is a little glimpse of what happened and what was discussed.

Ramy Essam: concert and interview

/ ICORN's 10th Anniversary

In 2011, Ramy Essam (Egyptian musician) achieved international fame as the voice of the Egyptian revolution in Tahrir Square chanting, the song "Irhal" (Pars) in which he called for the resignation of Mubarak. After leaving Egypt and through ICORN,he is hosted in Sweden in Malmö since 2014. He is able to with work his music in peace and security and building up a professional carreer.

Khaled Harara: El Horia

Rapper Khaled Harara is considered an “enemy of the state” of Palestine. His lyrics criticize the humanitarian situation in Palestine and lack of freedom of expression under Hamas rule. While living as a refugee in Gaza, he organized hip hop workshops for youth with a focus on writing and self-expression. The workshops, his artist organization, and his group “Palestinian Unit” were banned, and Khaled was subjected to interrogations, imprisonment, and torture. Khaled was ICORN musician-in-residence of the Gothenburg City of Refuge in Sweden from 2013 to 2015.

Writing Freedom 2013

A film from the joint ICORN Netowrk Meeting and PEN International Writers in Prison Committee 2013 in Krakow. Interviews with among others Peter Ripken (ICORN), Chenjerai Hove (ICORN), John Ralston Saul (PEN) and Robert Piaslowsky (Krakow Festival Office).