Nordic Museum’s annual Sámi Film Festival to feature female indigenous filmmakers

Meghan Walker Ballard

This year’s virtual and in-person Sámi Film Festival at the National Nordic Museum will focus on female indigenous filmmakers from Feb. 9 – 12.

Most of the festival is virtual, however, there will be an in-person screening on Feb. 11 featuring a presentation from Sámi director and festival curator Katja Gauriloff.

The Nordic Museum says Gauriloff’s curation “confronts pressing issues in the Sámi community such as sexual victimization and assault among Indigenous women in Sápmi. It explores modern Sámi culture such as Marja Viitahuhta’s music video featuring Sámi musicians Ánnámáret, Ilkka Heinonen, and Turkka Inkilä.”

Here’s the schedule for the in-person event on Feb. 11:

  • Welcome — 11:00 am
  • Dološ niegut (2022)— 11:15-11:18 am
  • Háldi (2022) — 11:20-11:25 am
  • Sire and the Last Summer (2022)—11:30-11:45 am
  • Unborn Biru (2023) — 11:50 am-12:09 pm
  • The Silence in Sápmi (2022) — 12:15-1:27 pm
  • Interview with Festival Curator Katja Gauriloff — 1:45-2:45 pm
  • Sieidi (2022) — 3:00-3:03 pm
  • The Sámi Have Rights (2019) — 3:05-3:16 pm
  • Boso mu ruovttoluotta (2022) — 3:20-3:44 pm
  • ŠAAMŠIǨ (Great Grandmother’s Hat) — 4:00-5:00 pm

Festival curator Gauriloff is a Finnish-Skolt director and co-owner of the production company Oktober. She recently earned the Finnish Film Affair award for her film Je’vida, which is the only film shot in the Skolt Sámi language, currently only spoken by about 300 people in Finland, according to the National Nordic Museum.

Virtual screening passes are available through Elevent for $25, and the in-person pass is $20 for museum members and $25 for non-members, available for sale online and on the day of the event.

Photo: From the film ŠAAMŠIǨ (Great Grandmother’s Hat)