This October, the 4th Annual Sámi Film Festival explores Sámi values, visions, and stories through film in a must-see hybrid event taking place both in-personal and virtually! Presented as a partnership between Scandinavia House, National Nordic Museum, and the Pacific Sámi Searvi in Seattle from October 29 to November 1, the program will include a variety of contemporary Sámi documentaries, short films, and panel discussions with the filmmakers. 

All films in this year’s program will be available for virtual screenings beginning October 29 through November 1. In-person programming will include screenings on Saturday, October 30 of Short Films at 1 PM and the feature film Eatnameamet – Our Silent Struggle (dir.  Suvi West) at 2:30 PM in Victor Borge Hall at Scandinavia House. A virtual panel discussion with directors will also take place during the festival; please check back here for more details and information closer to the date. 

Support has been provided by the Royal Norwegian Consulate General in New York, The Consulate General of Sweden in New York, and Finlandia Foundation, with institutional support provided by the Pacific Sámi Searvi and International Sámi Film Institute.

The Virtual Film Package includes the feature documentary Eatnameamet – Our Silent Struggle (dir.  Suvi West, 2021) as well as 8 short films from Sámi filmmakers.

Short films included are Atte Munnje Sani Saji (Just Give Me the Word, dir. Sara Margrethe Oskal; 2017); Eat, Sleep, Feed, Repeat (Borrat, Biebmat, Báibmat, Ballat, dir. Aslak Paltto, Finland, 2020); Thank You Lord (Gittu Gittu, dir. Elle Sofe Sara, Norway, 2019); Dimples of Tundra (Guorga – duoddara modjegobit, dir. Katja Gauriloff, Finland, 2020);  Shelter (Suodji, Marja Helander, Sápmi/Finland/Norway, 2020); Deattán (Tomi Lampinen, Finland, 2020); On the Run (Moai báhtaretne, Liselott Wajstedt, Sweden, 2020); and Ealát (Elle Marja Eira, Sápmi/Norway, 2021).

Virtual screenings of all films will be available beginning at 8 AM ET on Friday, October 29 and remain available to stream through November 1.  To download viewing instructions and an FAQ, please click here.

FEATURE FILM
Eatnameamet – Our Silent Struggle
Feature documentary | 2021 | 74 minutes | Suvi West | In Sámi, Finnish, English, Swedish with English subtitles

The documentary Eatnameamet – Our Silent Struggle explores multiple colonial acts done by the State of Finland towards the Sámi people and as well as the government’s attitude towards the Sámi. Filmmaker Suvi West looks at how these injustices are part of a bigger question about the ownership of the land, unraveling a tangle of questions from seemingly superficial cultural appropriation to moments deciding the fate of the entire people.

SHORT FILMS
Emma Elliane – Atte Munnje Sani Saji /Just Give Me the Word
Music short | 2017 | 4 minutes | Sara Margrethe Oskal
Filmed in the Sámi community of Guovdageaidnu, the short music film is a performance by young Sámi artist Emma Elliane rapping in her mother tongue with a clear message to the greediness that threatens nature and people all around the world. (This short immediately precedes Eatnameamet)

Borrat, Biebmat, Báibmat, Ballat / Eat, Sleep, Feed, Repeat 
Short film/Drama | 2020 | 4 minutes | Aslak Paltto | No dialogue 

The reindeer herder is experiencing his hardest and longest winter ever, and is forced to feed the reindeer to keep them alive. All the days are the same: feeding, herding and refueling. The reindeer herder cannot take a break until the snow melts; nevertheless, something drives him ahead.

Gittu Gittu / Thank You Lord 
Short film/drama | 2019 | 6 minutes | Elle Sofe Sara | In North Sámi with English subtitles

Giitu Giitu is a visual short film about the Læstadian trance in Sápmi.

Guorga – duoddara modjegobit / Dimples of Tundra 
Short film/drama | 2020 | 4 minutes | Katja Gauriloff

Time and place lose their meaning when a man searching a lost yoik in the highlands has a discussion with The Father, The Sun. What is the face I will inherit if the dimples of tundra fail to provide the forgotten words?

Suodji / Shelter 

Short film/drama | 2020 | 4 minutes | Marja Helander

An adaptation of an old story from Utsjoki, Sápmi, Shelter is based on the legend of how Ovllá-Ivvár Helander — a relative of director Marja Helander — decided to fool Death during the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic. Today as we face similar threats, the film’s protagonist walks in Ovllá-Ivvár´s footsteps. But at the end, who is really who?

Deattán
Short film/drama | 2020 | 8 minutes | Tomi Lampinen

Why do we have nightmares? What brings on these and other heavy feelings? This short film tells a story about the Deattán — one possible reason behind nightmares.

Moai báhtaretne /On the Run 
Short documentary | 2020 | 3 minutes | Liselott Wajstedt | In Swedish/Sápmi with English subtitles

At the start of the COVID-19 outbreak in Sweden, director Liselott Wajstedt wants to return to her home and family in Kiruna — but all unnecessary travel is discouraged, and the Prime Minister asks for common sense. A text message dissolves the knots in this personal and reflective film about the pandemic’s division of friends and families.

Ealát
Short documentary | 2021 | 32 minutes | Elle Marja Eira| In North Sámi with English subtitles

“As long as the reindeer exist here, so do we.” Through filmmaker Elle Márjá Eira’s eyes, we follow her family in different seasons with their reindeer herd in this film about living and surviving in Sámi reindeer husbandry during strange times.

The 4th Annual Sámi Film Festival is presented a partnership with The National Nordic Museum in Seattle.

Support has been provided by the Royal Norwegian Consulate General in New York, The Consulate General of Sweden in New York, with institutional support provided by the Pacific Sámi Searvi and International Sámi Film Institute.