My Home, My Heartache

A film by Trude Haugseth,
Country: Sweden,
Duration: 31min,
Language: Sami,
Subtitles: English,
Year: 2004

Anne Marge (25), is the oldest of four sisters in a Sami reindeer herder family in Northern Sweden. While two of her younger sisters have moved away from the small village, Anne Marge still lives at home, helping her father with the reindeer keeping. Her dream is to be able to stay within the profession of reindeer keeping. But the problem is that reindeer herding today is a job for men… In the film, we get to follow Anne Marge in her life one summer and autumn. We go up to the mountains where they mark reindeer calves and sleep in lavvus, follow Anne Marge to party with her friends and in her life at home. At the same time, Anne Marge shares her thoughts, her hopes, and her doubts about the future with us. We also get to know Svea, Anne Marge’s mother, who has been through the same choices in her youth and puts things in perspective. “My Home, My Heartache” is a film about being a woman in the reindeer herding culture, living in between tradition and modernity, but also includes the universal theme of being young and having to choose how to live your life.

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Longing for Belonging

A film by Beate Mortensen Nesheim,
Country: Norway,
Duration: 41min,
Language: Norwegian,
Subtitles: English,
Year: 2001

Havøysund, a small fishing village in northern Norway. A place of different values for different people. What makes the sense of belonging – or not belonging to this place? The film is portraying different people’s perspectives on life here, as well as the everyday life at the place. The two young girls, Linn and Cathrin (image), want to escape the island. Their interests and values at this point in life, are pulling them away from the place against the cities, but still, it is hard for them to cut or stretch the bonds to their homeplace. Palmer is raised into the world of fish, sea, and docks. He is in some ways a fisherman by his own choice, and at the same time, a fisherman due to the lack of other opportunities Jens lived the Dream that many northerners have: To escape the dark and cold winter season by traveling to a warmer and more pleasant world. In Thailand, he met Phlabphlung. She came with her two sons to live in Havøysund with him and found her place in the community in an unexpected way.

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Memories of Mauken

A film by Anne Tømmervåg,
Country: Norway,
Duration: 21min,
Language: Norwegian,
Subtitles: English,
Year: 1998

As the Norwegian Military Defense plans to expand their shooting ranges and target practices in the area of Mauken in Northern Norway, searchers from the Sami Department for Environment and Cultural Heritage reveals vast remains of Sami reindeer herding connected to the seasonal migration between Norway and Sweden. The film gives a view of how surveys for cultural remains and archaeological excavations, supported by oral narratives, construct knowledge about the past in an area.

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Childhood Burnt by War

A film by Oxana Vasilchikova,
Country: Russia,
Duration: 26min,
Language: Russian,
Subtitles: English,
Year: 2011

Childhood burnt by war explores evocations of memories of the people, who had experienced World War II (the Great Patriotic War) in different parts of the Soviet Union in their early childhood. The film is shot in Arkhangelsk, North-Western Russia, where Galina and Slava Lebedevy established an organization named “Children burnt by war”, putting as their main aim the transmission of their knowledge to the young generations. Being dedicated to their common task during 10 years of hard work within the organization they achieved a lot. Showing social activities deeply intertwined in their daily life, the film reveals the beauty of people’s relationships with each other. Strong personalities with vulnerable souls create their own history where the war will always remain an inevitable part.

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Beyond the Arctic Veil

A film by Elise Castberg,
Country: Norway,
Duration: 34min,
Language: Norwegian,
Subtitles: English,
Year: 2010

In ‘The Artic Veil’ we meet some of the women at the Alnor Centre, the northernmost mosque in the world. It shows some of the activities and events that the women participate in, both regular mosque activities as well as other events happening in Tromsø town. The film shows the interaction between Muslim women as well as the interaction with the local community.

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Learning to Become a Muslim

A film by Mari Bjørnsdatter Knudsen,
Country: Norway,
Duration: 27min,
Language: Norwegian,
Subtitles: English,
Year: 2003

When you grow up as a Muslim in Norway, it is a challenge to fit into the secular society, and at the same time pas on Islam. “Learning To Become A Muslim” is a film about children from different cultures who meet at the Quranic School every Saturday in the Mosque in Tromsø.

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Greater Than Ourselves

A film by Anita Lervoll,
Country: Norway,
Duration: 35min,
Language: Norwegian,
Subtitles: English,
Year: 2004

The indigenous peoples-festival, Riddu Riddu, “a storm by the coast”, was arranged for the 12th time in Gàivuotna/Kåfjord, Northern Norway in the summer of 2003. During the festival-week, the population in the small village is tripled, and all those who work for the festival, except the producer, are volunteers. Altogether 300 people were involved in the work this year. This film is mainly about the people behind the festival, focused on the reasons why these people spend great amounts of their time and energy on their work as volunteers for this festival. Parts of Riddu Riddu`s history will be portrayed, in addition to parts of the history of the Coastal Sami people in Norway. The film will also show glimpses of events during the festival-week: the children’s festival, seminars, classes, and concerts.

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Giving Birth in Northern Landscape

A film by Toril Hanson,
Country: Norway,
Duration: 34min,
Language: Norwegian,
Subtitles: English,
Year: 2002

The film is about giving birth in northern Norway. It also deals with contemporary midwifery practices, Western medicine, and the challenge of the centralization and decentralization of health services. Through a Saami woman, we learn about traditional Saami ways of birth and midwifery. Voices of different women – mothers and midwives, contemporary and traditional are heard.

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Autumn on Ob River

A film by Janno Simm,
Country: Russia,
Duration: 46min,
Language: Russian,
Subtitles: English,
Year: 2003

Near the mouth of Ob River in North-Western Siberia live the northernmost families of 22500 Khanty people. In conditions of a harsh polar environment and post-Soviet unpredictability, coping is a challenge. Like many of their neighbors – kinsmen, the Tobolko family is a part of a fishing brigade. To survive, when pay is scarce and even that has not been paid for months, they employ the traditional economical model of Arctic, where hunting and reindeer herding add value to fishing activities. The film follows the autumnal activity of a Khanty fisherman family: end of main fishing season – moving over to winter settlement, hunting, and reindeer herding activities. There is a story about “indigenous accountancy”- a unique balance system between fishing and reindeer herding Khanty, knowledge of fishing and hunting grounds…

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Food Stories

A film by Eline Arnevåg Lågeide,
Country: Norway,
Duration: 30min,
Language: Norwegian,
Subtitles: English,
Year: 2016

Food Stories is a film that explores how particular food commodities are related to memories and emotions. The film is an outcome of three-month fieldwork at Alanya Import, a greengrocery shop at Storgata in Tromsø, Norway. Different customers and goods are being followed through daily grocery shopping, cooking, and sharing a meal. The film’s point of departure is how the customers relate to their food from their home countries. Various perspectives are presented in sensory meetings at kitchens around Tromsø. Food becomes a window into different immigration and globalization processes. Furthermore, does the film presents an insight into kids growing up in several contexts when it comes to food traditions.

Interview with the filmmaker:
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