The Sámi people (also spelled Sami or Saami) are an indigenous Finno-Ugric people inhabiting Sápmi, which today encompasses large northern parts of Norway and Sweden, northern parts of Finland, and the Kola Peninsula within the Murmansk Oblast of Russia. A single daily newspaper is published in Northern Sámi, Ávvir. There are short daily news bulletins in Northern Sámi on national TV in Norway, Sweden and Finland. There is a Sámi theatre, Beaivvas, in Kautokeino on the Norwegian side, as well as in Kiruna on the Swedish side. The largest Sami Publishing house is Davvi Girji. In this program "Topic: Sámi" filmmaker Nils Gaup presents his latest production, "The Kautokeino Rebellion" (2008), author Ann-Helen Laestadius talks about to seek ones roots, and Isabel Pavval share how it is being a young Sámi and youth culture.
Author
Sámi craftsman/designer
Amoc - rapper
Actor
23 Jan 2016
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.
08 Sep 2023
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.
14 May 2018
Acoustic Ocean is an artistic exploration of the sonic ecology of marine life in the North Atlantic. Located on the Lofoten Islands in Northern Norway, the video centers on the performance of a marine-biologist diver who is using a life-size model of a submersible equipped with all sorts of hydrophones and recording devices. In this science-fictional quest, her task is to sense the submarine space for acoustic and bioluminescent forms of expression.
05 Nov 2022
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.
22 Feb 2005
About being young and Sámi, focusing on the topics, pride, love and conflict. Isabel moves from her mother in Stockholm to her father in Jokkmokk. Amoc rap in Aanaarsämikielâ, Inari Sámi, a language used among 400 people. Alette doesn't feel like a Sámi. Thomas is a drummer, snowboards and dream of being an actor. The skier Tonje always fall in love with a Sámi. Why? Jon is adopted from Colombia and joiks a lot. Thomas and Petra plan for their future. Ritva loves horseback riding. Amanda likes theatre and politics. Vocalist Sandra wonders how much Sámi she is. Johan is brought up in a religious home where music is prohibited. Aslak love scooters. Marit was bullied in school because she is a Sámi.
15 Mar 2026
Sami reindeer herders win a Supreme Court victory against Europe’s largest wind farm - but when the state refuses to act, their fight reveals a deeper crisis of justice and trust.
15 Sep 2025
No overview found
01 Jan 2001
Wimme Saari is one of the best known Sami yoikers from Finland. He combines traditional Sami singing with his own improvisations, usually to a techno-ambient accompaniment by members of Finnish electronic group RinneRadio. Wimme has also appeared on the albums of other bands or musicians, for instance Hedningarna, Nits or Hector Zazou.
13 Mar 2021
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.
01 Jan 2002
A documentary about Áillohaš (Nils-Aslak Valkeapää), a musician, painter, and poet of the Sámi people in Finland.
16 Mar 2023
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.
24 Dec 1990
Follows Astrid & Sune as they show techniques and methods of sami handcraft.
01 Jan 1985
In the film about "the land of eternal light and eternal darkness" we meet some women who talk about their lives. The women have all grown up in reindeer herding families and as children they lived in kotas, moved with reindeer and lived a life in nature. Their own children, on the other hand, have grown up in "normal" Swedish society. None of them have lived like their parents. The film addresses Sami culture, language, school. How modern technology has affected the lives of the Sami.
03 Dec 1923
The everyday life of the Karesuando Sámi at the Sarek Mountains, near their camp, the sita. Traditionally, the Sámi have pursued a variety of livelihoods, including coastal fishing, fur trapping, and sheep herding. Their best-known means of livelihood is semi-nomadic reindeer herding. The genetic makeup of Sámi people has been extensively studied for as long as such research has been in existence. Ethnographic photography of the Sámi began with the invention of the camera in the 19th century. This continued on into the 1920s and 1930s, when Sámi , against their will, were photographed naked and anatomically measured by scientists,.
23 Oct 1994
Documentary about the priest and joiker Johan Märak and the artist Lars Pirak, and their friendship.
21 Oct 2021
Joar Nango has collected books and various other material relevant to Sami architecture. This is is a deep dive into Gumpien's history and use today. A gumpi is a portable shepherd's hut mounted on dairies, often used during spring migration in reindeer husbandry.
01 Jan 2015
A charismatic womanizer is deprived of his leadership and betrayed by his own people.
28 Jun 2024
A man finds some glasses on the ground. When he puts them on he is transported into a Sámi world.
13 Jun 2021
Three Sámi men travel to the capital of Norway. One of them is wearing gákti, the Sámi traditional costume, to attract Norwegian women. The second one believes it unethical to do this, and the third is bitter that he doesn't attract women when he wears the gákti. Indigenous Police is a Sámi short film told with humor and political sting. It is an identity satire about how people, both the Sámi and the majority population, consciously and unconsciously define what is the right way to be Sámi.
09 Mar 2018
Sami dance students Birit and Katja Haarla dance through the villages and lost woods of Sápmi all the way to where the important decisions are made. The polarity of Nature and the Western way of life is filtered through sharp humour.