The Threat

Silenced Roots

Love, music, Sami identity and environmental activism go hand in hand in this inspiring tale of young singer Ella and her fight against the mining company that threatens her Sami heritage.

Documentary about the priest and joiker Johan Märak and the artist Lars Pirak, and their friendship.

The AssimiNation is a political pamphlet portraying the indigenous Sámi people fighting for their existence. The film follows the on going cultural genocide of the Sámi which the current Governmental politics allow. This film is a cry for help for the last indigenous people living in the EU.

Sámi artefacts from the Finnish National Museum are returning home to Sápmi, while the holy drums of the Sámi people are still imprisoned in the basements of museums across Europe. The returning objects symbolise the dignity, identity, history, connection to ancestors and a whole world view that was taken from the Sámi people. Director Suvi West takes the viewer behind the scenes of the museum world to reflect on the spirit of the objects, the inequality of cultures and the colonialist burden of museums.

A Sámi woman fights for her right to claim a tax deduction against the purchase of a dog. Why the Swedish authorities fail to recognize the dog's use as a reindeer herding tool versus a pet opens up a larger discussion about Indigenous rights and economic discrimination in this humorous takedown of the Swedish government's ignorance of Sámi culture.

Documentary about Lars Theodor Jonsson who was a cross country skier in the 1920s and 30s and now lives alone in the forest.

An essay film about how it may feel to grow up as a young Sami in Sweden, with poetry written by Ella-Maria Nutti and graphics by Irma Bergdahl. The partying of a typical teenager together with the labels put on you that wont go away, the questions which are thrown on you as knives in the back. A tribute to our ancestors who fought for our rights and a declaration of love to the young Samis who continues to fight

Everyday wintertime life of Sámi reindeer herder Inka Länta and her family, mingling authentic and fictionalized takes.

Personal accounts from the Alta actions in the years 1979 to 1981. Large police forces were deployed against the demonstrators. The dispute over the Alta river began as an environmental issue, but became a major turning point for the Sámi people's struggle for equal rights in Norway.

Two parallel stories are gradually unfolding the everyday life of two very different persons - that of 86-year-old Sara and 7-year-old Mihka - both residing in Guovdageaidnu - Kautokeino, in the middle of the Norwegian arctic tundra, through the drastic change of the arctic seasons and the passage from the long winter’s darkness to the never-ending light of the summer season.

Loving someone of the same gender is frowned upon in Sami communities. Sparrooabbán (Me and my little sister) shows what it’s like to be a minority within a minority. Suvi describes how her little sister Kaisa wishes to be accepted as she is. Like her sister, Kaisa is a Sami, but also in a relationship with a woman, and she also works as a deacon. There are obviously more constricting communities in the film than only one.

The documentary Rap and Reindeer follows the life of 18-year-old Sámi rapper Mihkku Laiti, who lives in the northernmost corner of Sámiland. The film is a coming-of-age story, following Mihku on his journey towards a career as a musician and rise to stardom in the midst of varying expectations. He’s charmed the crowd on Talent Suomi and proudly wears the Sámi clothing he has styled himself. He raps and yoiks in harmony, designs his own brand on his computer but also masters the skill of laborious reindeer herding. Above all, he sees his own unique roots and the Sámi language as his greatest strength. The future makes him wonder: to follow his father’s footsteps or to reach for his dreams.

Examines the extraordinary lifelong friendship between Skolt Sámi storyteller Kaisa Gauriloff and the Swiss-Russian author Robert Crottet through the eyes of Gauriloff’s great-granddaughter Katja.

Follows Astrid & Sune as they show techniques and methods of sami handcraft.

The fate of a culture lies on the shoulders of few determined individuals.

Religious and cultural reawakening inspires rebellion in a 19th century Norwegian village.

The movie takes place during World War II and depicts the true story of Jan Baalsruds amazing escape from the German army from the coast of Northern Norway and across the border to the neutral country Sweden.

Why are gooseberries so much more valuable than deer trees and why did the Sami men lay naked on the marsh in the past? How do you respond to a mock execution and what is actually panic attack? Ella and Moa are two girls with more questions than answers and during a summer night they approach a little cautiously of their Sami origin. —Jonas Selberg Augustsén

During summer 1979, Ester moves to Alta in Northern Norway to begin teaching at an elementary school. Like many Sámi at the time, she is ashamed of her heritage and conceals her ethnicity. Ester goes to great lengths to fit in, even joining in with the derogatory jokes. When her cousin Mikkhal takes her to a camp by the Alta River, where people are demonstrating against the building of a dam, Ester learns how the fight for the river is also a revolt against the years of brutal racism and discrimination against her people. After a major confrontation with the police, Mikkhal and some other Sámi decide to go to Oslo to hunger strike in front of the Parliament. Knowing what is at stake, Ester realises it is time to make a stand…