Four new programme events supported by the OpEn Fund will bring global perspectives on activism, climate justice, and human resilience to this year’s GRASP Festival.
Through talks, film screenings, and participatory formats, these events explore how storytelling can inspire engagement, strengthen communities, and create new ways of taking action — both locally and globally. The four events are among the first OpEn-supported contributions to GRASP Festival, with more to be announced in the lead-up to the festival.
How do we talk about change without creating a sense of powerlessness? And how can we turn hope into meaningful action?
At this year’s festival, you can meet Thomas Coombes, creator of the concept hope-based storytelling and former Head of Brand and Deputy Director of Communications at Amnesty International. Through a keynote and workshop, he will explore how hope-based narratives can serve as a driving force for activism and social change. Here, hope is understood not as optimism, but as a strategic practice that fosters engagement and mobilises people to act.
Legal activism will also take centre stage when Portuguese lawyer and climate activist Mariana Gomes visits GRASP Festival. As the founder of Último Recurso, the world’s first youth-led NGO focused on strategic climate litigation, she works to hold governments and corporations accountable through climate lawsuits. In the panel discussion Law in Service of the Planet, she will join Helena Reumert Gjerding and Alexander Holm to discuss how the law can become an active safeguard for both people and the planet.
This year’s OpEn programme also features two documentary films from The Why Foundation, which use personal stories to explore faith, conflict, identity, and human resilience.
In The War We Carry, audiences follow Hninn and her family in Myanmar after the outbreak of civil war in 2021. Amid violence and fear, the film portrays how faith, care, and strong relationships can provide hope and strength in the struggle for freedom.
In the documentary Catching Them Young, viewers are taken to India, where three 11-year-old boys are admitted to a religious boarding school in a climate marked by polarisation and intolerance. The film examines how religious and political indoctrination shapes young minds, but also how reflection, compassion, and hope can open the door to a different future.
Following both screenings, audiences will be invited to participate in Q&A sessions, offering an opportunity to explore the films’ themes and production in greater depth.
These programme events are supported by OpEn – the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Information and Engagement Fund, which works to strengthen global awareness and engagement through culture, film, and civil society initiatives.
OpEn is administered by the Roskilde Festival Group, CISU – Civil Society in Development, and The Why Foundation.
GRASP Festival takes place from 1–3 October in Musicon, Roskilde.
