The Annual Sámi Film Festival returns to Scandinavia House and virtually nationwide! Now in its 7th year, the 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. This year’s program is curated by acclaimed visual artist Matti Aikio, whose work in sound and video art has captivated audiences across the globe, and one of 12 artists featured in Arctic Highways, a 2023 exhibition exploring contemporary art by Indigenous artists from the Arctic. Presented annually in partnership with the National Nordic Museum in Seattle, this year’s festival will also be co-presented with Anchorage Museum, a significant art, history, ethnography, ecology, and science museum dedicated to studying and exploring the land, peoples, art, and history of Alaska.
SCHEDULE
Dajan — I say (2024)
Dir. Alice Márja Jektevik, Kim Saarinen | 4 min.
A music video consisting of two songs by Hildá Länsman & Tuomas Norvios, “Gulan” and “Dajan,” Dajan — I Say mirrors artist and yoiker Länsman’s personal journey in finding her way back home to Sápmi, and discovering the strength to say no to things she does not want for herself. Produced in the border areas on the Finnish and Norwegian side of Sápmi, around Länsman’s home village Ohcejohka, the film’s title comes from the northern Saami word “Dajan,” which directly translates to “I say.” The song invites you to move freely in the world to the beat of your own decisions.
Post-Capitalist Architecture TV Part 2 — On Nomadism and Flow (2022) and Part 5 — On the Gumpi (2022)
Dir. Joar Nango & Ken Are Bongo | 37 min. (Part 2) and 40 min. (Part 5)
As a prologue to his 2020 exhibition at Bergen Kunsthall, 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 program 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.
Maiílmmittkus (2024)
Dir. Hans Pieski & Arttu Nieminen | 8 min.
Modern technology is often seen as a downfall of sustainable ways of living on the land, but according to many historians the Sámi have themselves, at least partly, embraced and welcomed the technical revolution in the past. What is modern technology’s relationship to the Sámi culture? Is breaking away from technology possible anymore? In this surreal journey into their complex relationship, various stages of technological development are depicted alongside their impact on Indigenous populations.
Sámi Bojá (2015)
Dir. Elle Sofe Henriksen | 9 min.
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.
Arctic Report (1972)
Dir. Juhani Lihtonen | 43 min.
Arctic Report explores an annual migration of the Árdnehasat people as they travel 350 kilometers from their winter village near Kautokeino to the coast of the Arctic Ocean, where their reindeer swim out to the island of Árdni (Arnøya in Norwegian). The film is narrated by the legendary Oula Näkkäläjärvi, an early Sámi politician and the first educated Sámi lawyer in Finland, as well as a radio journalist, actor, activist and reindeer herder.
ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
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.
ABOUT THE CURATOR
Matti Aikio (b. 1980) is a Sámi visual artist from the Finnish side of Sápmi. He has a background in Sámi reindeer herding culture and holds an MA in contemporary art from Tromsø Academy of Contemporary Art, and has had artwork exhibited in various countries in Europe, Asia and Latin America. He works with mixed media, photography, sound, installations, video, sculpture and text, and his main interest as an artist is to try to offer the spectators a possibility to shift perspective on often marginalized issues. Aikio also performs as a DJ.
SUPPORT
The 7th Annual Sámi Film Festival is presented a partnership with The National Nordic Museum in Seattle and the Anchorage Museum. It is made possible by the Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation.