The 7th Annual Sámi Film Festival To Take Place This February At Scandinavia House

The 7th Annual Sámi Film Festival will return this week with films exploring the stories of Nordic Indigenous people, in-person at Scandinavia House in New York and virtually nationwide! The in-person version of the festival will take place on Thursday, February 6 and Saturday, February 8 at Scandinavia House, with screenings and an opening night film talk with festival curator Matti Aikio. Films will be available virtually from February 7-13 to audiences nationwide,

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. It presents a variety of newly released and classic Sámi features, documentaries, and short films. Presented annually in partnership with the National Nordic Museum in Seattle, this year's festival is also 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.

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. One of 12 artists featured in Arctic Highways, a 2023 exhibition exploring contemporary art by Indigenous artists from the Arctic, he also presented that year at the Helsinki Biennial.

IN-PERSON SCHEDULE
All films stream virtually beginning February 7.

OPENING NIGHT: Screenings & Film Talk

THU-February 6-6:30 PM

Biegga bieggá /Wind is Winding (2024) | Dir. Jenni Laiti & Lada Suomenrinne | 42 min.
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.

Skierri - vaivaiskoivujen maa /Skierri - Land of the Dwarf Birches (1982)
Dir. Markku Lehmuskallio | 118 min.
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," said director Markku 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.

Thursday night's screenings will be followed by a film talk with artist and festival curator Matti Aikio.

DAY TWO

SAT-February 8-1 PM

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 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."

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. & 40 min.
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.