The historical struggles of the Sámi people can be seen through the extraordinary life of Indigenous activist Niillas Somby.
Niillas Somby, Mihkkal Hætta, Stig Frode Henriksen
Norway
2025
In Northern Sámi with English subtitles
This short is featured in:
3: The peripheral core
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits & Director
Producer
Linn Henriksen
Screenwriter
Liselotte Wajstedt
Cinematography
Mauri Lähdesmäki
Editor
Mauri Lähdesmäki
Original Music
Mathias Josefsson
Marja Helander
Marja Helander, born 1965, is an award-winning Sámi artist and filmmaker from Finland who graduated from the University of Art and Design in Helsinki. Her early work explored her identity between Finnish and Sámi cultures, while her recent photographic work has focused on the northern landscape and the effects of the mining industry. Helander’s films include Áfruvvá (2022) and Birds In The Earth (2018), which won several awards and was included in the 2019 Sundance Film Festival short film competition.
Photo by Riikka Vaahtera
Liselotte Wajstedt
Liselotte Wajstedt, born 1973, is a Sámi artist and filmmaker whose work spans film and video, collage, painting, photography, sculpture, textiles, and installation. She studied painting and arts at The Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm, as well as animation and experimental filmmaking at Gotland University, with a special emphasis on documentary storytelling and scriptwriting. Her experimental body of work comprises over two dozen shorts and feature-length films, including the recent short film Eadni (2023) and the feature documentary The Silence in Sápmi (2022).
VIFF Short Forum
See more shorts in this series
1: Call your mother
Shorts from: Canada, China, UK.
2: Memory & mediation
Shorts from: Canada, France, Lebanon, Netherlands, Portugal, Poland, Syria, USA.
3: The peripheral core
Shorts from: Brazil, Canada, Japan, Norway, USA.
4: Um, womanhood
Shorts from: Canada, Columbia, France, Netherlands, Sweden.
5: The absurd & spiritual
Shorts from: Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Finland, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Poland, Portugal.
6: City slickin’
Shorts from: Canada, France, Jordan, Spain, USA.
7: All day I dream about
Shorts from: Canada, India, Spain, Taiwan, USA.
8: Love and despair
Shorts from: China, France, Germany, Portugal, USA.
9: The scary one
Shorts from: Canada, Korea, Romania, USA.
10: The new socialism; ceasefire now!
Shorts from: Belgium, Canada, China, India, Myanmar, UK.
Short Fuse
An eye-opening collection of shorts exploring memories, experiences and relationships between friends, family, and across generations. From powwows in North America, to the rivers of Ethiopia and beyond, these shorts offer memorable stories on screen.