Skábmagovat 2016
Thursday 21 Jan.
15:30Before the Race:Together with the Reindeer
Reindeer herders speak out and Aslak Paltto presents the documentary he’s working on. FREE ENTRENCE!
Actor Anni-Kristiina Juuso and director Aslak Paltto in attendance!
Porot kuuluvat tuulelle
Finland, 2015, 39'
D:Päivi Kapiainen-Heiskanen, Harri Räisä
L:Finnish
Reindeer herders from the Käsivarsi Herding Cooperative
in the northwestern corner of Finland speak out on the
situation, threats and challenges of reindeer herding in a
sneak preview of a new documentary. They also reflect on
distinct features of their culture such as strong communality
and the old ties to land.
Poromiehen silmin – Through a Reindeer Herder’s Eyes
Sápmi/Finland, 2015, 20'
D/P:Aslak Paltto
L:Sámi, Finnish, subt. English
Aslak Paltto tells about the documentary he is working on
on the everyday lives of herders in the Sallivaara Herding
Cooperative, but also in Norway and Sweden. The material
– covering five years – deals with, for example, radical
changes in legislation, damages caused by predators and
the differences between Norway and the EU countries as
regards reindeer husbandry.
18:00 Festival Opening
The opening of the 18th Skábmagovat Film Festival in the Northern Lights Theatre, Inari.We will see two World and two European premieres:
Nitahkôtân / I Have Arrived
Canada, 2015, 4'
D: Moe Clark
P: Wapikoni
L: Cree, English
Moe Clark, a Metis sound artist, strikes up a hymn of praisefor Nature.
Director Moe Clark in attendance!
Fievrrut
Sápmi/Finland, 2015, 3´
Car, snowmobile, bike, kick sled and sledge: Niillas likes to
whizz around on all of them. WORLD PREMIERE
Ka Mitshelitakuess Auass / The Child Who Hammered Nails
Canada, 2015, 4'
D: Isabelle Kanapé (Innu)
P: Wapikoni
L: Innu; subt. English
Everything we do has its consequences according to this piece of shadow puppet theatre.
EUROPEAN PREMIERE
Sáhtán ja máhtán
Sápmi/Finland, 2012, 4'
D: Tarmo Lehtosalo
P: Tuupa Records
L: North Sámi
Ailu Valle raps.
WORLD PREMIERE
20:30 Night with Reáktor in Sajos!
The Giron Sámi Teahter from Sweden stages its stark vision of future, the play Reáktor, at the Skábmagovat Festival.
The seventh Finnish nuclear power plant in Inari is the first bigger source of energy built in Sápmi since the hydroelectric power plant built in Norway in teh 1980s.When the reactor of the controversial nuclear power plant explodes, three people escape to a packed shelter.As weeks pass, survival seems more and more uncertain.In deep distress, the three people find their consciences gnawing and illusions crumbling, but dreams are also born.They ask each other who they are and what is important for the individual and the Sámi as a nation...
Anita Suikkari’s direction is based on Kenneth Hætta’s manuscript.The leading roles are played by Sarakka Gaup, Paul Ol Jonah Utsi and Anna Åsdell.The composer is Johan Olav Eira, and costumes have been designed by Tiina Hauta-aho.The play is acted in North Sámi, with the text projected in Finnish.
Friday 22 Jan.
9:00 Discussion
The seasoned director Larry Blackhorse Lowe tells about Navajo Cinema and his own films. Other filmmakers will be presented, too.
Sápmi I:Sámi Education Institute presentsSAJOS
A selection of films from the Media Programme of the Sámi Education Institute SOGSAKK in Inari.
Miel
Sápmi/Finland, 2015, 21'
D:Xia Torikka (Sámi)
L:Sámi; subt. Finnish
Visiting his childhood region, goldsmith Samuel Valkeapää reflects on what family, nature and heritage mean for him.Handicraft cannot cling to the past. Nor can culture: it has to live in the present.
Director Xia Torikka in attendance!
May of the Black H’mong
Sápmi/Finland, 2015, 13'
D:Mika Aleksandroff
L:English, Finnish; subt. Finnish
Lo Thi Mei tells about the life of her H’mong family in a small village, Lào Chai, in Vietnam.With the introduction to schooling, tourism and the internet, women now expect more than just children of their lives: they may even want to leave the village.
Director Mika Aleksandroff in attendance!
With an Unreflecting Gait
Sápmi/Finland, 2015, 7'
D:Jonne Järvinen
L:Finnish; subt. English
Hilda from the northernmost part of Finland dreams of becoming a musician.Her mother, Ulla Pirttijärvi-Länsman, is a well-known musician.Hildá is studying to become a teacher.Will music become her work, and what does she want to achieve with her music?
WORLD PREMIERE
Director Jonne Järvinen in attendance!
Merja
Sápmi/Finland, 2015, 14'
D/Scr:Miikka Miinala
L:Finnish; subt. English
Breast cancer shakes up one’s life, turning values around and making the smallest things important.However, illness doesn’t always mean the end of everything.It can also make one stronger.
Director Miikka Miinala in attendance!
Hangover Sápmi
Sápmi/Finland, 2015, 31'
D:Ville Fofonoff
L:North Sámi, Inari Sámi, Finnish; subt. Finnish
Three Sámi ladies are getting ready for a women’s preparation ritual, juhkkibargu.As the old ritual consists of, for example, drinking and yoiking, things seldom go as planned.
Director Ville Fofanoff in attendance!
Hate Slash Love
Sápmi/Finland, 2015, 15'
D/Scr/P:Elmeri Härkönen
L:English; subt. Finnish
Redo is angst-ridden.With the help of future technology, he and his wife-to-be Ella record their memories from their earlier lives.With memories of their common past, reasons for the angst begin to unfold.
WORLD PREMIERE
Director Elmeri Härkönen in attendance!
11:00 Americas:From Chile to CanadaSIIDA
An armchair trip across three Americas in 92 minutes.
Challwan Kvzaw / The Art of Fishing
Chile, 2015, 7'
D:Collectice of Mapuche Youth Escuela de Cine y Comunicación Mapuche del Aylla Rewe Budi
P:Lafken ny Zugvn Collective of Mapuche Communicators
L:Mapundungun, Spanish; subt. English
Elder Florencio passes on his knowledge of fishing to two Mapuche children, who receive his teachings with enthusiasm.
El Sueño de Sonia / Sonia's Dreams
Peru, 2015, 14'
D:Diego Sarmiento
L:Spanish, Quechua; subt. English
Sonia Mamani teaches indigenous women in Capachica how to cook traditional Peruvian dishes.
Katary / Stand Up
Venezuela, 2014, 18'
D:Awki Esteban Lema (Kichwa Otavalo)
L:Spanish, Kichwa; subt. English
Esteban’s grandparents tell him stories that bring him a sense of cultural and ancestral belonging.
Kuychi Pucha / Rainbow's Wool
Ecuador, 2014, 8'
D:Segundo Fuerez (Kichwa)
P:Alberto Muenala
L:Quechua; subt. English
The spirit of the late mother guides a little girl to a magic place beyond the rainbow where life and death meet.
Nuestro hogar / Our Home
Panama, 2014, 4'
D/Scr:Detsy “Mara” Barrigon , Iván Jaripio (Embera & Kunas)
P:Wapikoni
L:Spanish; subt. English
People in the Embera community of Panama testify about their constant struggle to preserve their land and have their rights acknowledged.
EUROPEAN PREMIERE
Ištiŋma – To Rest
USA, 2013, 8'
D:Andres Torres-Vives
P:Kevin Killer (Oglala Lakota)
Scr:Jesse Shortbull (Oglala Lakota)
A Lakota man reflects on his complex relation to his father in the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.
Balmoral Hotel
Canada, 2015, 10'
D:Wayne Wapeemukwa (Métis)
L:No dialogue
Balmoral Hotel is the life story of a First-Nations sex-worker from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, told through dance.
Mia
Canada, 2015, 8'
D:Amanda Strong (Métis), Bracken Hanuse Corlett (Wuikinuxv/Klahoose)
P:Spotted Fawn Productions Inc.
L:No dialogue
Street artist Mia paints supernatural themes that become alive, until she herself turns into a salmon that tries to return back to the forest from the polluted city.The young master of animation is here again.
Clouds of Autumn
Canada, 2015, 15'
D:Trevor Mack
L:Tsilhqot'in; subt. English
A touching story about a boy whose sister comes home from the residential school for summer.Once so close a sister has changed, and the same fate awaits the boy when he becomes of school age.
13:00 Navajo I:Blackhorse ExpressSAJOS
A retro trip to the short films of Blackhorse Lowe.
Director Blackhorse Lowe in attendance!
Ashkii Ba Hozoni / Happy Boy
USA, 2000, 8'
D:Blackhorse Lowe
L:Navajo; subt. English
A happy man learns to know a Navajo woman who is escaping from an arranged marriage, but things don’t go quite as expected.
Minor Disturbance
USA, 2006, 4'
D:Blackhorse Lowe
L:English
A Navajo man travels through a reservation in New Mexico in a music video by the band The Dust Dive from Brooklyn.
Hey Indian
USA, 2007, 19'
D:Blackhorse Lowe
L:English
When Sally Little Feather dumps Buddy WhiteGuy, he sets out on a desperate study trip to become “enough of an Indian” in order to win back her love.
Floating
USA, 2008, 9'
D:Blackhorse Lowe (Navajo)
L:English
Redundant conversation reaches epic proportions.
Bikes
USA, 2007, 14'
D:Blackhorse Lowe
L:English
A bike ride in front of girls’ eyes turns into a pitiless duel as another bike arrives.
Shush
USA, 2003, 9'
D:Blackhorse Lowe
L:English
The daughter of a Navajo family has descended in a violent relationship.Then her brother Shush returns to the reservation.
Shimásáni
USA, 2009, 15'
D:Blackhorse Lowe
P:Chad Burris (Chickasaw), Heather Rae (Cherokee), Nanobah Becker (Navajo), David Stevens.
L:Navajo; subt. English
This award-winning black-and-white film is based on the youth of the director’s grandmother in the 1920s.The young woman must choose whether to continue the traditional way of life with her grandmother or to go and look for a new life “beyond the mountains”.
13:00 Asia:Allowed and ForbiddenSIIDA
Indigenous peoples from Myanmar, Bangladesh and Japan open windows to their worlds.
The Bag
Myanmar, 2012, 9´
D: Thet Su Hlaing
While construction workers build an extension next door,
Lahu lady Daw Nar Ku quietly creates a strikingly patterned
traditional Lahu bag.
Sicigorousawa un cironnop/The Fox of Shichigorosawa
Japan, 2014, 14'
D:Tune Sugihara
Scr:Koji Yuki (Ainu)
L:Ainu; subt. English
Higashiyama is the home of foxes, polluted by humans.The fox mother must go far, to the villages of people, to find food for her cubs in a story written by Koji Yuki, an Ainu artist.
Maw Theng Gaari/My Bicycle
Bangladesh, 2015, 61'
D/Scr:Aung Rakhine (Rakhine)
P:Khona Talkies / Ma Nan Khing (Rakhine)
L:Chakma; subt. English
A family in the countryside gets a glimpse of hope in its struggle to cope with poverty, when a man brings a bicycle to the village.The first indigenous-language long film made – that has also been sensored – in Bangladesh brings the most oppressed ethnic group of the country into the spotlight.
FINNISH PREMIERE
15:00 SÁPMI II:Sápmi Goes TorontoSAJOS
Last autumn, the world’s biggest indigenous film festival ImagineNative in Toronto had its spotlight on Sámi Cinema.In addition to new films, the audience in Toronto saw a retrospective – produced by Skábmagovat – of Sámi Film from the 1990s to the present.This is what it looked like.
Biegga savkala duoddariid duohken lea soames / The Wind Whispers There is Someone Behind the Tundra
Sápmi/Norway, 2006, 9'
D:Elle Sofe Henriksen (Sámi), Ken Are Bongo (Sámi)
L:Sámi; subt. English
A young couple dances through time and space enjoying the wonders of the sky, passing objects and people that connect them to their Sámi ancestors, in a film inspired by a poem by Synnøve Persen.
Ruovggas biekkas / The Grunting of Reindeer Calves in the Wind
Sápmi/Finland, 2003, 8'
D:Anne Marika Lantto (Sámi)
L:Sámi; subt. English
A poetic story about the hard decision that the director has to make.When his father suddenly dies, she inherits his reindeer and earmark.For the father, reindeer were his life; for the daughter, they become a dream unfulfilled, as she has asthma and is allergic to animals.
Sieidi / Sacred Stone
Sápmi/Sweden, 1996, 23'
D:Åsa Simma (Sámi)
L:No dialogue
An old woman wanders through the landscape of which she is part and watches her when watching some tourists at the sacrificial stone.The film is a tribute to the silent and a declaration of love for forefathers, who passed on the wisdom which nature etched on their skins.
A Sámi in the City / Sápmelaš gávpogis
Sápmi/Sweden, 2005, 8'
D:Liselotte Wajstedt(Sámi)
L:Sámi, Swedish; subt. English
What do you call a skyscraper, a shopwindow or concrete in Sámi?An urban exploration leads a young Sámi woman to revisit her language, in search of the words to express her contemporary experience.
Girdilan / Longing for Silence
Sápmi/Norway, 2011, 4'
D:Niels Ovllá Dunfjell (Sámi)
L:English
City life gives its restless pulse to the Sámi singer Ann Mari Andersen’s musical longing through the lyrics of Berit Margrethe Oskal (Sámi).
Trambo
Sápmi/Finland, 2013, 4'
D:Marja Helander (Sámi)
L:No dialogue
Indigenous people have to take care of their wellbeing even if the circumstances are severe.
Vilda duottar / The Wild Tundra
Sápmi/Norway, 2009, 6'
D:Johan Ante Utsi, Inga Marie Risvik, Elle Marja P. Eira, Yvonne Thommassen, Anne Merete A. Gaup, Håkon Isak Vars (all Sámi) – workshop mentored by Nils Gaup
L:Sámi; subt. English
Two Sámi guys from the wild highlands, a farm boy and a reindeer herder, meet.There are disagreements and conflicts, but it’s not easy to be angry at another person in a small community.
Min mormor och jag / My Grandmother and I
Sápmi/Sweden, 2006, 13'
D:Ann-Christine Haupt (Sámi)
L:Swedish; subt. English
A poetic documentary thoughtfully weaves together the filmmaker’s childhood memories of her grandmother and her love of the traditions of Forest Sámi culture.The film reminds us that we are the living connection to the lives of our ancestors.
Vuoiŋŋalaš cummá / The Spiritual Kiss
Sápmi/Norway, 2009, 5'
D:Gjert Rognli (Sámi)
L:No dialogue
Homosexuality has been a taboo in the Sámi community.The experimental short film by a Sea Sámi director emphasises that being different should be seen as a resource in Northern Norway, too.
Sammakko, joka oli aika ruma / Quite An Ugly Frog / Cuoppu, guhte lei viehka ropmi
Sápmi/Finland, 2010, 4'
D:Jouni West (Sámi), Pia Mikkilä
L:No dialogue
It is not easy to be ugly in a world of beautiful frogs, especially if there are no love calls in your life.
Eahparaš – Dead Soon After Birth
Sápmi/Norway, 2011, 7'
D:Anne Merete Gaup (Sámi)
L:Sámi; subt. English
Eahparaš, a dangerous spirit of a newborn child that has died soon after birth, haunts people and wants to be baptised and given a name.
Áhpi / Wide as Oceans
Sápmi/Sweden, 2013, 4'
D:Oskar Östergren (Sámi)
L:Sámi
“People are like oceans, they have no end.”Sofia Jannok’s tribute to those who left, and comfort to those left behind.But we are still here.
15:00 Canada I:Embargo ISIIDA
Seven directors from four countries made each a film on terms dictated by the others.Here’s the result!
First Contact
Australia, 2009, 8'
D:Rima Tamou (Bulgunnwarra/Nga Ruahine Rangi), Thomas Ryan Redcorn
L:Girrimae; subt. English
The lives of two brothers are drastically changed after they discover strange tracks while hunting.
B. Dreams
USA, 2009, 10'
D:Blackhorse Lowe (Diné)
L:Navajo; subt. English
Romance and comedy come together to paint a contemporary portrait of love on a Navajo reservation.
Director Blackhorse Lowe in attendance!
Cepanvkuce Tutcenen / Three Little Boys
USA, 2009, 12'
D:Sterlin Harjo (Seminole/Creek)
L:Cree; subt. English
Three young boys accompany their uncle to church and find out just how difficult it is to channel divine behavior.
The White Tiger
Aotearoa/New Zealand, 2009, 9'
D:Taika Waititi (Te Whānau-ā-apanui)
L:English
An urban warrior returns to his tribal homeland in a quest to discover his cultural identity.
Savage
Canada, 2009, 6'
D:Lisa Jackson (Anishinaabe)
L:Cree; subt. English
On a summer day in the 1950s, a young girl watches the countryside go by from the backseat of a car.She arrives to find that the end of her journey is only the beginning…
?E?anx /The Cave
Canada, 2009, 10'
D:Helen Haig-Brown
L:Tsilhqot'in; subt. English
A hunter on horseback accidentally discovers a portal to the afterlife in this fantastical version of a true Tsilhqot'in story.
Tsi Tkahéhtayen / The Garden
Canada, 2009, 12'
D:Zoe Leigh Hopkins (Heiltsuk/Mohawk)
L:Mohawk; subt. English
A mystical gardener harvests fruits from the earth that defy everyone’s expectations.
17:00 Navajo II:Three Stories on HopeSAJOS
The sparkling first film of a young Navajo director arrives in Inari.
Drunktown’s Finest
USA, 2014, 95'
D/Scr:Sydney Freeland (Navajo)
Three young Native Americans look for their identities and
strive to escape the hardships of life in a Navajo reservation
in New Mexico. Luther, a rebellious father-to-be, tries to
avoid hassle in order to get into the army, Felixia, a transsexual
beauty, wants to become Miss Navajo, and Nizhoni,
an adopted Christian, tries to find her biological parents.
17:00 Australia:The Power of Black TheatreSIIDA
An impressive leap from the ancient Dreamtime of the Aborigines to the political turbulence of the 1970s.
Tjawa Tjawa
Australia, 2015, 12'
D:Mark Moora
L:Kukatja; subt. English
A group of women sets out in the ancient Dreamtime to look for men for themselves far from home.As they cross over the wide desert in Northwest Australia, they leave traces that director and Ngarti elder Mark Moora now decides to follow.
The Redfern Story
Australia, 2014, 57'
D/P:Darlene Johnson (Dunghutti)
L:English
The National Black Theatre, a political theatre that sprungup in the poorest slum of Sydney, in the 1970s, became anintegral part of the Aboriginal equal rights movement. Duringits six years of activity it created – with theatre, danceand singing as its weapons – a political turbulence that lefta permanent trace in Australian society.
18:45 SÁPMI III:Let’s yoik!30'NORTHERN LIGHTS THEATRE
FREE ENTRENCE!
Before the Paris Climate Change Conference, in autumn 2015, Sámi decided to improve the world by yoiking.
20:30 INDIGENOUS PEOPLES IN THE NIGHT
NORTHERN LIGHTS THEATRE
The wonderful campfires of the Fourth World twinkle here again!
Tuktumit
Canada, 2014, 4'
D:Ippiksaut Friesen (Inuk)
L:No dialogue~
A beautifully animated exploration into the role of fishing in the life of a family in Nunavut.
The Routes
Canada, 2014, 4´
D: James McDougall
L: English
When riding his bike through his home village, the directorrecalls its people and the events that once shook thevillage.
EUROPEAN PREMIERE
Call and Response
Canada, 2014, 5'
D/Scr:Craig Commanda (Anishinaabe)
P:Wapikoni
L:English
An Anishinaabe musician of the digital era – the director himself – faces features of his nation’s heritage in the forest at night.
EUROPEAN PREMIERE
Catalina y el Sol / Catalina and the Sun
Argentina, 2015, 15'
D:Anna Paula Hönig (Quechua)
L:Spanish, Quechua; subt. English
The young Catalina travels on an enormous salt desert that has, according to her grandmother, been born from the dried tears of story tellers.Catalina must remember all of her grandmother’s stories, as it will be her turn to tell them after her grandmother dies.