Society of Cinema presents Sunna Nousuniemi:  Muitalusat dekoloniála ráhkisvuođas - Stories of decolonial love

Film screening

Wednesday November 24th, 2021

From 18:00 to 20:00

For this occasion, Sunna Nousuniemi has gathered a collection of Sámi cinematic stories of love, life and death, made within the past ten years. This short film screening will offer a glimpse to contemporary Sámi storytelling as well as Sámi and global Indigenous collaborations that depict revival, recovery, resistance and healing.

Niillasaš-Jovnna Máreha Juhani Sunná Máret, also known as Sunna Nousuniemi (born 1993, pronouns she/they) is Sámi-Finnish visual artist, dj and former festival director of Skábmagovat Indigenous Peoples’ Festival from Inari. With their work, Nousuniemi pursues intergenerational, communal healing by artistically exploring the different dimensions of film, discussion, memes and music.

Content note: some of the films discuss suicide and post-traumatic stress disorder.

RUN TIME: Approximately 82 minutes
All films are subtitled in English

>>Living as a human being at the end of the world
Director: Jenni Laiti
Production: 2020, Sápmi
Language: North Sámi with English subtitles
Duration: 5’

In this short documentary Sámi artivist Jenni Laiti seeks answers how to exist in the world with ecocidal grief - experiencing the the end of the world every single day - due to the climate crisis caused by colonialism.

>>gáidat/máhccat - dissociate
Director: Sunna Nousuniemi
Production: Sápmi, 2020
Language: North Sámi with English subtitles
Duration: 3’

Content note: This story discusses suicide ideation and PTSD
dissociate is an experimental narrative about an Indigenous soul trying to survive in the colonial western world. dissociate is a poem (gáidat/máhccat in North Sámi language) written by director Sunna Nousuniemi during ‘Project CREATeS’ - digital storytelling workshop by Sustainable Development Working Group (SDWG) of the Arctic Council to prevent suicides in the circumpolar Arctic.

>>Vehádat vehádaga siste - Minority within a minority
Director: Xia Torikka
Production: 2021, Sápmi
Language: North Sámi with English subtitles
Duration: 10´

“We are still here, we are still queer!”
Vehádat vehádaga siste is a short portrait of a dancer and Sápmi Pride organizor, Pinja Pieski, who wants to address the lack of representation and information of the LGBTQIA+ Sámi people. Pieski wants to make a change so that the queer Sámi youth would have a future where they can safely be themselves.

>> Iđitsilba
Director: Elle Márjá Eira
Production: 2015
Language: North Sámi with English subtitles
Duration: 12’

Májjen has inherited a hornhat, a very special hat, that all the women in her community wear too. Suddenly everything changes as a group of strangers arrive in the community preaching about the dangerous of the hat.

>> Deattán
Director: Tomi Lampinen
Production: 2020, Sápmi
Language: North Sámi with English subtitles
Duration: 8’

Why do we have nightmares? What brings on nightmares and heavy feelings? This short film tells a story about Deattán - one possible reason behind nightmares.

>>Kauri
Director: Lada Suomenrinne, Alex Lazarowich, Raymond Edwards
Production: 2019, Aotearoa
Language: Te Reo with English subtitles
Duration: 8’

The Kauri trees of Aotearoa are one of the longest-living tree species in the world, as well as the largest but now the Kauri trees are suffering from dieback disease as a result of European imperialism. This documentary is a reminder that the death of Kauri trees is a warning sign that should not be disregarded.

Kauri was produced as part of the three-day Native Slam film challenge at the Māoriland Film Festival.

>>Suodji - Shelter
Director: Marja Helander
Production: 2020, Sápmi
Language: North Sámi with English subtitles
Duration: 4’

Suodji is a short film adaptation of an old story from Utsjoki, Sápmi, to the present. It is a legend of what the director's relative, Ovllá-Ivvár Helander, did during the Spanish flu epidemic in 1918 in Utsjoki. Ovllá decided to fool Death and take his fate into his own hands.

>>Bihttoš - Rebel
Director: Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers
Production: 2014, Sápmi / Canada
Language: North Sámi and English with English subtitles
Duration: 14’

Content note: Film mentions suicide attempt
Mixing archival footage, re-enactments and animation, Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers´ extraordinary beautiful and poignant documentary Bihttoš explores how past injustices impacted the relationship of their Blackfoot mother and her Sámi father.

>>Mii
Director: Máret-Inger Aslaksdatter Anti
Production: 2020, Sápmi
Language: North Sámi with English subtitles
Duration: 20’

The short film “Mii” is about love and caring between generations. The film investigates how to deal with the dramatic changes that the elders are experiencing. Young Sámi doctor, Máret Lájlá Nedrejord, is trying to help her grandparents, using traditional methods to aid them, both physically and mentally.
The film shows how luohti, traditional Sámi yoiks, can be used to stimulate the ability to speak, and to strengthen the voice. Luohti can also be used to stimulate the memories, by yoiking. Even the elders with impaired memory can remember stories from their past.

During 2021-2022 Society of Cinema concentrates on independent film production practices and feminist filmmaking strategies worldwide and in the local context. Aiming to strengthen the connections of the local scene with other filmmaking groups and film scholars internationally; our program engages with, analyses, discusses, and counteracts (yet to be renounced) effects of its structures. We are taking a practice-based, yet research- centric approach through workshops, creative programming and critical publications.

Society of Cinema is a collaboration between Museum of Impossible Forms and Kenno Filmi. The series is curated by Danai Anagnostou in conversation with Giovanna Esposito Yussif.