Ladies and gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure for me to say a few words at the opening of this international conference.

In the modern society everyone knows – or is supposed to know – how to read and write. These skills are important for the development of democracy all over the world. But the language of pictures is still not familiar to us in the same way.

As never before, the world is full of visual communication: art, TV, commercials, videogames, magazines, webpages, advertisements. Even newspapers exploit visual communication to a much larger degree than just a few years ago. In a globalised world the pictures come to us, and make the world smaller. The language of pictures is clearly one of the most powerful tools in the process of globalisation. Most likely the mastering of this language will be important for the future of our democracies.

This conference will deal with these complex themes. We know that our children have a different relationship to these media than we have. It is a challenging ambition to introduce the upgrowing generations to art and culture. In the digital age, media education will play an important role in this.

For the government of Norway it is a goal to give all school children art and cultural experiences at an early stage. The initiative "The Cultural School Bag" is a large scale project devoted to bringing art and culture to Norwegian school children.

Film is included in this programme, and will be given extra resources the next two years. The organisers of this conference, The Norwegian Film Institute and The Screen Education, are already doing an important job in this field. I also believe that this conference will contribute to this work.

In order to ensure a high level and a great diversity of film production in Norway, the government is convinced that public support is nescessary But it is also important to strengthen the import of cultural productions from other nations and cultures into our country. This will give us a wider field of knowledge and inspiration. And last but not least: It is important to support and strengthen our ability to receive these cultural impulses. These three fields (public support, international exchange, increased knowledge) must not only be supported, but also made to interact in order to meet the challenges of the digital age. This point has been stressed in the govenment's recent "Report on Culture" to Parliament.

The challenges of the globalisation process is best met through international co-operation. I am therefore glad to see so many people from so many different countries at this conference. I know that we have much to learn from each other, and I hope that the conference will enlighten all participants and give inspiration for your further work.

I would like to wish the organisers, the lecturers and the participants an enjoyable conference. I hereby declare «Audio Visual Stories of a Digital Age» for opened!