Now at festivals
An overview over recent Sámi films and releases ready to be shown at festivals.
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FULL LENGTH FILMS
BIRU UNJÁRGA
/ MY FATERS´ DAUGHTER (2024)
Directed by Egil Pedersen, Sápmi/Norway
78 min
Youth drama: Elvira, a confident Sámi teenager, firmly believes that her mother conceived her at a Danish fertility clinic. She often daydreams about her father, envisioning him as a charismatic movie star.
However, her world is turned upside down when her real biological father unexpectedly steps into her life.
More information about the film.
Distribution contact: info(at)plutofilm.de
ORO JASKA / SHUT UP (2024)
Directors: Petter Holmsen and Ánne Mággá Wigelius, Sápmi/Norway
Series 6×24 min
Elli Anne wakes up with bruises after a party, while Issát fears his secret could ruin everything.
Rumors swirl, and the silence must be broken.
More information about the series.
Distribution contact: silje(at)alfredfilmtv.com
ELLOS EATNU /
LET THE RIVER FLOW (2023)
Directed by Ole Giæver, Sápmi/Norway
90 min
Historical drama: Ester hides her identity to avoid being exposed to racism.
When she suddenly finds herself in the middle of demonstrations against a big dam development in Alta, she begins a personal journey out of the shame she has carried for so long.
More information about the film
Distribution contact: hei(at)merfilm.no
EALLOGIERDU /
THE TUNDRA WITHIN ME (2023)
Directed by Sara Margrethe Oskal, Sápmi/Norway
95 min
Love drama: After living for many years in Oslo, Lena moves back to Sápmi in Northern Norway with her young son to explore Sámi gender in an art project.
While researching in the wintry tundra, she falls in love with reindeer herder Máhtte – whose mother, the head of the family, disapproves of the relationship.
As decisions from the past come to haunt her, Lena struggles to find out whether her and Máhtte’s lifestyles can ever be compatible.
More information about the film
Distribution contact: Freedom from Fear
JE’VIDA (2023)
Directed by Katja Gauriloff, Sápmi/Finland
80 min
Historical drama: Iida is an elderly Skolt Sámi woman who has abandoned her past under the pressures of assimilation.
The film follows Iidas story, weaving across three different historical eras to examine the fate of Finland’s Indigenous peoples in the post-war period.
More information about the film
Distribution contact: Future Film: info(at)futurefilm.fi
SHORT FILMS
OAHPES BAHÁ (2025)
Directors: Vegard Bjørsmo and Silje Bürgin-Borch, Sápmi/ Norway
12 min
We are taken into the thoughts of 17-year-old Elli Anne from Kárášjohka as hope and dreams are put to the test.
In Oahpes Bahá, a dissonance is explored between the external portrayal of Sámi culture and the internal experience.
How long can Elli Anne hold on to her dream of Sápmi?
More information about the film.
Distribution contact: silje(at)alfredfilmtv.com
ÁHKUIN (2024)
Directors: Sunná Nousuniemi & Tuomas Kumpulainen, Sápmi/Finland
19 min
With the Sámi oral storytelling tradition of joik at its center, ÁHKUIN is a modern, visual and musical call-and-response between a grandmother and her descendants.
Archival interviews and the joik of Maarit-áhkku unspool as a connective thread across time, inviting the viewer through a portal into this corner of Sápmi.
More information about the film.
Distribution contact:
ÁHČČI/DAD (2024)
Director: Johannes Vang, Sápmi/Norway
6 min
Just out of prison, a father finds out that he is not wanted at his son’s birthday party.
Especially his present to the son shocks his mother-in law.
More information about the film.
Distribution contact: johannes(at)aurinkofilm.com
RED-SHADED GREEN (2024)
Director: Johannes Vang, Sápmi/Norway
5 min
When green energy comes at expense of Sámi traditional life and culture, this poetic film questions the sustainability of combating climate change by replacing one form of destruction with another.
More information about the film.
Distribution contact: johannes(at)aurinkofilm.com
WHISPERS OF REINDEER MILK (2023)
Directors: Mihkkal Hætta and Ándaras Leonardsen, Sápmi/Norway
18 min
This Sámi short explores an alternative universe in Sápmi where they managed to remove the primordial knowledge from the colonists.
The film is composed of open, meditative, persistent images from different landscapes in Sápmi, and is a journey to and from these lands.
Distribution contact: mikheatta(at)gmail.com
The Past and the Future of the Arctic (2023)
Director: Hans Pieski, Sápmi/Finland
6 min
The film will explore the few positives, and many negative aspects of the warming.
The film will be viewed through the eyes of a passionate fisherman, fishing tourism entrepreneur, reindeer herder and children’s perspective who have only lived in the era of warming.
The short film compares 50–100 years old film and picture footage with modern footage taken from the same places as the old footage.
This shows the speed of the change in the arctic nature to viewers in a concrete way, and the footage will be commented on by old people who have lived through this period of time.
Distribution contact: hans.pieski(at)gmail.com
DOCUMENTARIES
FOR OUR RIGHTS /
MER ENN BARE FJELL (2025)
Director: Johannes Vang, Sápmi/Norway
28 min
The Supreme Court ruled that the Norwegian government was breaking the Sámi people’s human rights, but the government did not care.
Young activists feel forced to stand up and fight for their rights, culture and identity.
The film follows the two Sámi activists Elle Rávdná Näkkäläjärvi and Maajja-Krihke Bransjfell in their daily life, and through demonstrations in the Norwegian Parliament and a following court case.
More information about the documentary.
Distribution contact: johannes(at)aurinkofilm.com
IN MY HAND (2025)
Directors: Liselotte Wajstedt/Márjá Helander, Sápmi/Finland/Sweden
24 min
“In my hand» is a compelling true story that explores personal and historical struggles of the Sámi people.
The film navigates between imprisonment, protest and surreal encounters, providing a unique insight into one mans`extraordinary journey.
It concludes with a powerfull call to action for the preservation of nature.
More information about the documentary.
Distribution contact: linn(at)paranordfilm.no
LUOSSAMORAŠ / SALMON SORROW (2025)
Director: Harry Johansen, Sápmi/Norway,
60 min
What happens when the salmon-fishing tradition of thousands of years is suddenly interrupted?
In 2020, the Finnish and Norwegian governments banned salmon fishing in the Teno waterways and fjord because of low salmon stocks. The blame has been shifted from overfishing to fjord fishing and climate change.
The documentary follows some of the salmon fishermen who were also filmed five years ago when salmon fishing was still allowed.
Distribution contact: harry(at)govas.no
HOME RIVER (2024)
Directors: Kati Eriksen and Scott Thornton, Sápmi/Finland
26 min
In 2017, three Sámi women broke the law to protect their traditions.
The Sámi people had fished the Deatnu River as a livelihood and spiritual practice for centuries until Finland enforced unprecedented restrictions on the river.
In a monumental case for Indigenous rights, Kati, Ánne, and Heidi fought the state to keep their culture alive.
More information about the documentary.
Distribution contact: kati(at)homerivermedia.com
HOMECOMING / MÁHCCAN (2023)
Directors: Suvi West and Anssi Kömi, Sápmi/Finland
76 min
Indigenous Sámi people fight to get back their stolen ancestral heritage.
Filmmaker Suvi West takes the audience behind the scenes of the museum world, revealing a visual, philosophical, and spiritual realm. She seeks a connection with ancestors through old museum objects, eventually arriving at the collective pain points of the Sámi people.
How can the damage caused by outsiders be repaired so that collective pains can be left behind?
More information about the documentary.
Distribution contact: post(at)tenthousandimages.no
COMING SOON:
FILMS IN PRODUCTION
ÁRRU
Director: Elle Sofe Sara, Sápmi/Norway
Full length
Release date: TBA
Amid the beauty of Northern Norway, reindeer herder Maia leads her family in a desperate fight to save their ancestral grazing lands from a looming mining project.
When her charismatic uncle Lemme returns to spearhead the resistance, his presence reignites buried traumas, threatening to tear the family apart. As protest camps rise and the community rallies, tensions mount between past and future.
Maia faces an impossible choice: risk the safety of her family to preserve their way of life, or sacrifice their land to break the cycle of silence.
More information about the film.
Distribution contact: eleanor(at)staerfilm.no
HEAJASTALLAN / A SÁMI WEDDING
Director: Åse Kathrin Vuolab, Pål Jackman, Sápmi/Norway.
Series 8×30 min
Release date: Q1 2026, NRK
In the small Sami town of Kautokeino, Garen is at the bottom of the social ladder. Trapped in a loveless marriage, she pours her energy into helping her unappreciative family. When her son is to marry into a wealthy reindeer-herding family, Garen sees a chance to lift her status by arranging the perfect wedding.
Traditional Sami weddings require the groom’s family to take on all aspects of the festive organization and Garen must recruit her siblings: the gay artist Henry who hates everything Sami, the outspoken addict Belle and the village fuckboy Johan.
The whole of Kautokeino watches while the dysfunctional siblings arrange a wedding in record time. What can go wrong? Everything!
More information about the series.
Distribution contact: Mer Film: oistein(at)merfilm.no
PORSLIN
Director: Ann Aurebekk, Sápmi/Sweden
Full length
Release date: TBA
A baby boy is saved from his dying mother’s womb. He grows up fascinated by near-death stories, their descriptions of an all-encompassing light and a greater unity becomes his romantic dream.
At the same time, he struggles to find his way in life. He returns to his Sámi grandmother to learn more about his mother, hoping it will help him.
What he finds is more transformative than he could ever expect.
Distribution contact: Rein Film
GARRAT DU VÁIMMU/
FÖRBANNELSEN- EN KÄRLEKSHISTORIA
Director: Amanda Kernell, Sápmi/Sweden
Full length
Release date: TBA 2026
When 20-year-old Ejva’s father suddenly passes away, it’s Ejva who takes over the family reindeer herd. She’s prepared her whole life, but it’s a dangerous job that you can’t do alone.
She has to do everything to keep the herd alive, and at the same time she starts a new relationship.
When Ejva meets her first great love shortly after, everything is thrown upside down. She’s forced to choose between staying in an untenable situation or turning her back on everything she’s fought for.
Distribution contact: Martin Wegeland / Nordisk Film
SÁMI VERSUS SÁMI
Director: Ellen-Astri Lundby, Sápmi/Norway
Documentary, feature length and TV-Hour
Release date: TBA
How can you agree on the future – when you can’t even agree on the past?
Over a hundred years ago, a group of Northern Sami were forcibly relocated to Southern Sami territory.
Today, their descendants meet in court – in a fight over land, reindeer herding, and the right to be Sami.
When the state splits, it is the people who bear the consequences – in a conflict that cannot be resolved.
More information about the documentary.
Distribution contact: post(at)tenthousandimages.no
SAAJVE
Adventure, children. Series 6×12 min.
Estimated premiere fall 2026.
Saajve is an exciting adventure and an animated series for the whole family, inspired by Sámi fairy tales, realms and beings. The story takes place in the middle of Sápmi where the forest meets the mountain.
The siblings Bräjta and Aanta must return a sacred figurine from a power-hungry crow to the magical parallel world of Saajve, in order to stop the evil giant Staaloe from destroying all the world’s knowledge!
More about the series.
Distribution contact: Bauta Film
STÁLLUBOJÁ OĐĐA DIHTOR
Director: Niki Casimir Rasmus, Sápmi/Finland
Animation: 12 min Release date: TBA
The story picks up when Stálluboy’s day takes a dramatic turn when his father’s volatile behavior triggers an explosion, destroying Stálluboy’s cherished computer and abruptly halting his gaming session.
Now faced with the daunting task of purchasing a replacement, Stálluboy finds himself in desperate need of funds. Delving into the depths of Sámi mythology, Stálluboy sets out on a quest to find the funds for a new computer.
With the witch’s guidance, he pushes onward—driven by the hope of once again enjoying his favorite games.
Distribution contact: kati(at)homerivermedia.com
CONTACT
International Sámi Film Institute
BuletjávriN-9520 Guovdageaidnu
Norway
Org. nr
909819498759
