Elle Marja, 14, is a reindeer-breeding Sámi girl. Exposed to the racism of the 1930’s and race biology examinations at her boarding school, she starts dreaming of another life. To achieve this other life she has to become someone else and break all ties with her family and culture.
The Swedish State Secretary of Culture Per Olsson Fridh and members of the Swedish Sameting will be present and participate in a panel discussion following the screening.
“Sámi Blood has all the anger and indignation one should expect from a drama centred on such appalling events…but with Kernell’s nuanced direction and Sparrok’s devastating performance, it’s also a brilliant character study, showing how this kind of officially sanctioned abuse insidiously attacks the minds of its victims as well as their bodies. Reminiscent of Fred Schepisi’s The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith and Alanis Obomsawin’s work, Sámi Blood is driven by righteous rage, psychological acuity, and a profound empathy.”—Steve Gravestock, TIFF
About the director
Amanda Kernell was born in 1986 in Umeå, located in the far north of Sweden. Her roots are in two cultures, due to her Swedish mother and Sámi father. Since 2006, Kernell has directed several acclaimed shorts for the production company Direktörn & Fabrikörn, including Semestersystern (The Holiday Sister / My Summer Holiday Sister) which was Best Short at the 2009 BUFF Children and Young Adult Film Festival, and Att dela allt (Sharing All) which received the 1 km Film Award that very same year.
She has studied writing for the stage and audio-visual media at Biskops-Arnö and has completed the Filmpool Nord course “Screenwriting for low-budget feature films”. In 2009, she was accepted by the National Film School of Denmark for their prestigious four-year Film Directing program.
THE PANELISTS
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1493071200
Image courtesy of Synergetic Distribution
MON—4-24-2017—7 PM
$12 ($7 ASF Members)
110 min. In Swedish and South Sámi with English subtitles.