Best of Fest: Wednesday, May 2, 7:15 p.m., Oak St. Cinema   Directors: Anastasia Lapsui and Markku Lehmuskallio    Being Sami no longer means making a living by herding reindeer in the far northern reaches of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. In a new Finnish documentary, The Sami (Saamelainen) many Sami who have followed work to the big cities of northern Europe reflect on changes they have experienced within their lifetimes, as they have become musicians, store clerks, a film director, a school kid, an artist, a young mother, and, as a counterpoint, a couple engaged in traditional reindeer-herding.

Co-directors Anastasia Lapsui (a radio journalist in Salekhard, and part of a Netets language program) and Markku Lehmuskallio (Seven Songs from the Tundra, 1999, Mothers of Life, 2001, and A Bride of the Seventh Heaven, 2004) explore the Sami diaspora, ask if the change of life-style and surroundings has transformed the uniquely Sami way of looking at the world. Sami speak candidly of what “being Sami” means to them, in ways that show the adaptiveness of tradition despite the hardships. Collaboration between indigenous people and filmmakers (e.g.,Ten Canoes and 37 Uses for Dead Sheep) often results in insightful commentaries on self as well as “other.” 

In Finnish with English subtitles, Finland, 82 minutes, 2007, BetaSP.

Presented by: Ingebretsen’s and Government of Finland David and Nancy Speer Visiting Professor of Finnish Studies.