April 6, 2016

CELEBRATING SÁMI WOMEN IN FILM

Filmmaker Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers (Kainai Nation–Blood Reserve, Blackfoot Confederacy/Sámi) presents Celebrating Sámi Women in Film, a collection of innovative short films by Sámi women. From the first people of Scandinavia, the Sámi, comes an outpouring of dynamic voices. Like the diverse lived realities of Indigenous peoples the world over, Sámi cinema spans the multitude of human experience through a distinctly northern lens. Within the Indigenous film community, women are held up – respected for their guidance, celebrated for their achievements, and valued for their contributions.

Some of the films for the evening include:

A Red Girl’s Reasoning (Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers, 2014, Canada/Norway) “After the justice system fails the survivor of a brutal, racially-driven sexual assault, she becomes a motorcycle-riding, ass-kicking vigilante who takes on the attackers of other women who’ve suffered the same fate.”

Bihttoš ( Rebel ) (Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers, 2014, Canada/Norway)

Mixing archival footage, re-enactments and animation, Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers’ deeply personal documentary Bihttoš (Eng. Rebel) explores how past injustices impacted the marriage of her mother, who is of Blackfoot descent, and her Sami father.

Jorinda’s Resa (Jorinda’s Journey) (Liselotte Wasjedt, 2014, Sweden)

This drama takes place in a magnificent landscape with high mountains. During her journey Jorinda meets resistance in the guise of a snow storm and she is almost frozen to death. But the real enemy is within Jorinda herself. She has to find her own inner strength. She has to take charge of her life. The project was inspired by Ann-Marie Ljungberg’s book Resan till Kautokeino (The Journey to Kautokeino).

Eahpáraš (Stillborn) (Anne Merete Gaup, 2012, Norway)

A terrifying Sámi folktale of the haunting spirit of a dead newborn child is brought to cinematic incarnation in this impressive horror debut.



Stoerre Vaerie (Amanda Kernell,2015) Elle, 78, does not like Sami people – though her first language was Sami and she grew up in the mountains in Lapland. Now she claims that she is completely Swedish and from the south. Under pressure from her son, she reluctantly returns north for her sister’s funeral. As they are about to leave, she understands that her son has planned for them stay with their relatives over night. Refusing to do so, Elle checks in at the local Grand hotel with all the tourists…

Stoerre Vaerie (Northern Great Mountain) had it’s world premiere at Sundance Film Festival in January 2015. The Swedish premiere was at Göteborg International Film Festival where it won the Best Swedish Short Audience Award. The film has also won Best Short Drama at ImagineNATIVE 2015, Canada, and Best Swedish Short Film 2015 at Uppsala Shortfilm festival 2015. In 2016 the film competes at Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival and is nominated Best Short for the 2015 Guldbagge Awards, Sweden’s national film awards. The film is distributed by Theo Tsappos at The Swedish Film Institute.

About the Filmmakers:

Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers is a member of the Kainai Nation (Blood Reserve, Blackfoot Confederacy) and Sámi from Norway. She graduated from University of British Columbia with a Bachelor’s Degree in First Nations Studies. Her award-winning works – often rooted in social justice – explore innovative means of telling stories. She is a recipient of the Vancouver Mayor’s Arts Award and a Kodak Image Award for her work as an emerging filmmaker, and was also included in the CBC list “Indigenous Youth Leaders: 5 Under 30 to Watch in 2015.” Her most recent short, Bihttoš, was included in the TIFF Top Ten Canadian Shorts and has been nominated for a 2016 Canadian Screen Award. She was nominated for a 2015 Leo award for her performance in Not Indian Enough.

Her Filmography includes:

Bihttoš (2014, 14 min, documentary, Canada/Norway)

Hurry Up, You Stupid Cripple (2013, 10 min, documentary, Canada) co-directed by Tailfeathers with Gitx’san filmmaker Terreane Derrick.

Colonial Gaze: The Sámi Artists’ Collective (2012, 10 min, mockumentary, Norway/Sweden)

A Red Girl’s Reasoning (2012, 10 min, drama, Canada)

Bloodland (2011, 4 min, experimental, Canada)

Liselotte Wasjedt was born in 1973 in Kiruna, with her Sámi roots in Nedre Soppero, Sweden. Liselotte works full time as an artist and filmmaker. Her education includes painting and arts from different schools in Sweden: Project programme in free Art at Royal institute of art as well as animation and experimental filmmaking with special emphasis on documentary storytelling and scriptwriting; Bachelor of Arts in Expression in Convergent Media, 2010 at Gotland University.

Anne Merete Gaup, born 1982 and raised in a Sámi reindeer herder family has strong traditions in storytelling. Since that she has been in film school and is now working as a Producer and director for the sami children’s TV-station NRK Sapmi. She brings her Sámi storytelling heritage to life through her films. Anne Merete debuted at imagineNATIVE 2012 with the chilling Eahpáraš.

Amanda Kernell, 1986, and south Sámi from northern Sweden, graduated in film directing from The National Film School of Denmark in 2013. Since 2006, Amanda has directed several acclaimed shorts including Stoerre Vaerie, which premiered at Sundance and has won several awards including Best Swedish Short at Göteborg International film festival and Uppsala film festival and Best Short Drama at IMAGINEnative. The film was also nominated to the Swedish academy award Guldbaggen in 2016.

Location and Time Augsburg College

Sateren Auditorium, Music Hall, 715 22nd Ave South

Discussion with Students 5:00-6:00

Reception 6:15-6:45

Screening begins at 7:00

Discussion with filmmakers follows

This event is free to the public Thank you to our sponsors: Augsburg College, American Indian Studies Department, Institute for Global Studies, University of Minnesota, Augsburg’s Marginalized Voices in Film and Media,

For parking permits contact M. Elise Marubbio at marubbio@augsburg.edu. Permits are limited in number. For parking directions visit: http://www.augsburg.edu/about/map/. You will be parking in Lot L off of 35th between Riverside and Butler Pl. You will need a parking permit.

If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation to the Augsburg Native American Film Series or this project, please send your checks to:

Augsburg Native American Film Series

Augsburg College, CB 115

2011 Riverside Avenue

Minneapolis, MN 55454