Looking for the 2024 Sámi Film Festival? Click here.
The Sámi Film Festival originated as a partnership between the National Nordic Museum and Pacific Sámi Searvi in 2018. Since that time, it has become an onsite event drawing audiences from the East and West Coasts and an online event sharing Sámi film with a global audience.
Looking for the 2024 Sámi Film Festival? Click here.
*Please note: Elevent purchases are being made from Scandinavia House and any questions on transactions should be directed there.
**VIRTUAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR VIRTUAL PASSHOLDERS: When the screening session has begun, to watch films go directly to the film festival portal here. Sign in using the Passholder Login with your email used to buy the pass (and using the password created when pass was purchased). Read an FAQ here.
About the Festival:
The 5th Annual Sámi Film Festival explores Sámi stories through film in a must-see hybrid event taking place both in-personal and virtually! The Festival is organized by the National Nordic Museum in Seattle and Scandinavia House in New York and presented in partnership with Pacific Sámi Searvi. Attendees can screen films online on February 9-12 and in person at both venues on February 11, 2023 (11am - 4pm). The program includes a variety of contemporary Sámi documentaries, short films, and panel discussions with the filmmakers. In 2023, the Sámi Film Festival will feature the selections of this year’s guest curator of film and acclaimed Skolt Sámi director, Katja Gauriloff (see bio below).
Program:
Welcome — 11:00 am
Dološ niegut (2022)— 11:15-11:18 am
Háldi (2022) — 11:20-11:25 am
Sire and the Last Summer (2022)—11:30-11:45 am
Unborn Biru (2023) — 11:50 am-12:09 pm
The Silence in Sápmi (2022) — 12:15-1:27 pm
Interview with Festival Curator Katja Gauriloff — 1:45-2:45 pm
The memories and documented imagery of reindeer herding and nomadic ways of life mix with the contemporary herding of reindeers in Dolos Niegut/Ancient Dreams, an experimental music video to a track by Ánnámáret, Ilkka Heinonen, and Turkka Inkilä from the album Nieguid duovdagat.
Háldi Dir. Ann Holmgren, 2022, short, 5min
Set between Sápmi and the underground world of Saivo, the unity and power of Sámi female relations is replenished by the animistic spirit, Háldi.
Sire and the Last Summer Dir. Liselotte Wajstedt, 2022, short fiction, 15 min
In 1916 Sire Marainen was suffocated by a goiter at the age of 35, during her time in the mountains. She was pregnant at the time. In the film, we follow Sire’s everyday life, until her final moments. We become a part of her world and get to see how big that little world can be and its richness in emotions, sounds, and memories. To handle her situation, she needs to focus on the small details. Sire reminds us of life, not death.
Unborn Biru Dir. Inga Elin Marakatt, 2023, short/horror, 19 min
A pregnant widow steals silver from a dead body to survive and feed her daughter. But the silver is cursed and has consequences for all of them, including the unborn.
Tystnaden i Sápmi (The Silence in Sápmi) Dir. Liselotte Wajstedt, 2022, feature documentary, 72 min
With a close-up camera and strong interviews, director Liselotte Wajstedt takes us to a painful place in several senses of the word. This film confronts unacceptable actions, but also has great respect for the women who choose not to be silent, such as the young women in this film—Marion and Ida—with their own personal stories of survival from sexual abuse and decision to no longer be silenced.
Sieidi Dir: Marja Viitahuhta, Music: Ánnámáret, 2022, music installation, 3min
Video installation for the experimental joik music by Sámi musician Ánnámáret.
The Sámi Have Rights Dir. Elle Márjá Eira and Mai-Lis Eira | 2019 | Short | 11 min
The Sámi Have Rights consists of three stories—February 6th 1981, The Sámi Have Rights, and Don’t Fuck With Me—that form a trilogy of Norway’s shame against Sámi people.
Boso mu ruovttoluotta (Breathe Me Back to Life) Dir. Sunna Nousuniemi, 2022, short documentary, 24 min
Director Sunna Nousuniemi tells the personal story of the aftermath of sexual violence experienced in their community. A diary-like short documentary shares glimpses of Sunna’s life disrupted by the trauma and a legal process linked to it. The past can’t be altered, however, Sunna’s family, ancestral lands, and gift from a friend, help them to push forward to a new chapter in life.
ŠAAMŠIǨ (Great Grandmother's Hat) Dir. Anstein Mikkelsen, Harry Johanssen, documentary, 60 min
For a long, long time, perhaps since the dawn of time, the Pasvik Sami managed their small borderless area in harmony with nature. Then, Norway, Russia, and Finland divided the area between them. Mining and power plants changed the landscape and the river. On the Norwegian side, the language and culture were almost obliterated, but they never managed to eradicate the East Sámi genes.
Guest Curator
Katja Gauriloff
Award-winning film director Katja Gauriloff is well-known for her influential films.
Award-winning film director Katja Gauriloff is well-known for her influential films.
Her films have been screened and awarded at various festivals around the world. Canned Dreams and Kaisa’s Enchanted Forest have been part of the Berlinale festival selection. Kaisa’s Enchanted Forest opened the Berlinale NATIVe section in 2017. Katja Gauriloff has been awarded for the Finnish National Film Awards (Jussi) for the best documentary film in 2016. Gauriloff is currently working on her second fiction feature Je’vida which will be the first Skolt Sámi language feature film in history. Gauriloff lives and works in Rovaniemi, Northern Finland.
