Sámi Film Festival at Majestic Bay Theatres

About the Sámi Film Festival

The annual Sámi Film Festival celebrates the rich storytelling traditions of the Sámi, an Indigenous people of the northernmost parts of Finland, Norway, Sweden, and the Kola Peninsula of Russia. Now in its 7th year, the festival presents a variety of newly released and classic Sámi features, documentaries, and short films, sharing Sámi film with a global audience.

Ways to Watch in Seattle, Washington

All films will be screened Friday, February 7th and Saturday, February 8th at Majestic Bay Theatres in Seattle.

Friday's Opening Night tickets: $16
($13 for National Nordic Museum Members)
Opening Night 

Saturday All Day Festival Pass: $40
($30 for National Nordic Museum Members)
Saturday Festival Pass

Become a Member to receive unlimited free admission, gain access to exclusive Member previews and special events, and enjoy a 10% discount in the Museum Store and café.

Alternate Ways to Watch

The 7th annual Sámi Film Festival will take place on February 6th to 13th, 2025 with both in-person and online streaming options.

In-Person Screenings:

• New York City, NY: February 6-7 at the Scandinavia House
• Seattle, WA: February 7-8 at Majestic Bay Theatres
• Anchorage, AK: February 10-11 at the Anchorage Museum

Virtual Streaming

• February 7-13: $25
  ($20 for National Nordic Museum Members; email marketing@nordicmuseum.org for discount code)
  Virtual Pass

Films

The festival will combine short films and feature films from different eras. New experimental films, which defy categorization in genres and resemble video art, will be paired with canonical films like Markku Lehmuskallio’s Skierri from 1982. 

“It is interesting to see how a film that was made over 40 years ago feels quite fresh in how it amplifies struggles that are still topical for the Sámi society,” -Matti Aikio, 2025 Sámi Film Festival Curator.

Feature Film

Skierri: Land of the Dwarf Birches

Finland, Sweden | 1982
dir. Markku Lehmuskallio
1 hour 58 minutes
Learn More: Letterboxd | IMDB 

1. About the film

   In Sápmi, a reindeer herder follows the traditional cycles of migratory life, which keep him apart from his home and wife for long periods of time. “Two cultures collide, the minority culture and the majority one. We try to show another way of thinking in this world” (Lehmuskallio). The director spent a year working with reindeer herders before filming to better understand the Sámi way of life. Skierri was the first Finnish feature film in which the Sámi people speak their language. The music of Erik Satie is combined with the sounds of nature. (Description source: Skierri – Land of the Dwarf Birches - Doclisboa - 21st International Film Festival)
   

Shorts

1. About the film

   They swallow our rivers, and the valleys turn into one big tear of grief. Yet, there are beings who gather the grief for a journey, for what they are carrying the wounded trees and all living beings. Their luggage is full of legacy from the world that is ending, and they will find the path to a portal when the first snow of the winter falls. The wind blows and leads the voyagers to a utopia, challenging them with the questions of being.
   

1. About the film

   Surreal journey into the complex relationship between indigenous peoples and the unstoppable force of technological progress. The film depicts various stages of technological development and their impact on indigenous populations.
   

1. About the film

   As a prologue to his upcoming exhibition at Bergen Kunsthall (4 Sep – 8 Nov 2020), Joar Nango made three films, together with Sámi filmmaker Ken Are Bongo, that explore Sámi architecture in a TV show format. The series was produced by Bergen Kunsthall as part of the official festival programme for the Bergen International Festival in May 2020, which could not be held in a physical form due to the global Covid-19 pandemic. The series was filmed with a mobile TV studio during travels through the northern landscape, meeting guests for interviews and visiting key architectural sites.
   

1. About the film

   Nango and Bongo travel through snow-covered landscapes with a mobile TV studio on a snowmobile. Along the way, they meet guests over a coffee around the fire, such as academic researchers, craftsmen and activists. They explore popular building techniques for large political power structures that form the basis of the social landscape in the north. Nango and Bongo take us to the Post-Capitalist Architecture Universe (Pca-TV) and explore the ongoing study of architecture after the fall of capitalism.
   
   In this new episode, Nango and Bongo focus on the gumpi. The gumpi is often a home-made little hut mounted on skis. They are looking for the very first gumpi, and talking to a linguist about the origin of the word.

1. About the film

   Sámi Bojá is about Mikkel, a reindeer herder who has the entire responsibility for his family’s herd. He has a tough shell like a Sámi bojá should have, but internally, there is chaos.
   

Matti Aikio, 2025 Sámi Film Festival Curator

The 2025 Festival is curated by acclaimed visual artist Matti Aikio, whose work in sound and video art has captivated audiences across the globe. Aikio’s was one of 12 artists featured in the National Nordic Museum Arctic Highways, a 2023 multimedia exhibition exploring contemporary art by Indigenous artists from the Arctic. The same year, he exhibited in the Helsinki Biennial.

Matti Aikio (b. 1980) comes from Vuotso, a small reindeer-herding Sámi village in northern Finland. He earned a bachelor of arts from Tromsø Academy of Contemporary Art in 2012. Aikio is a visual artist who works with photography and video, as well as with sculptural installations, sound art and music. He has also been a DJ since 2009. Aikio is interested in the concept of nomadism as a philosophy, culture and lifestyle. Along with his artistic practice, he is involved in nomadic reindeer herding, which his family has practiced for centuries.

Partnerships

The Sámi Film Festival originated as a partnership between the National Nordic Museum and Pacific Sámi Searvi in 2018.

In 2021, the festival expanded to include Scandinavia House in New York as a co-presenter, drawing audiences from the West and East coast, as well as reaching global audiences with onsite and streaming options.

This year, the Museum has expanded their partnership to include The Anchorage Museum, a significant art, history, ethnography, ecology, and science museum dedicated to studying and exploring the land, peoples, art, and history of Alaska.