Cultural Stereotypes and Negotiations in Sámi Cinema

• Main Author: Mecsei, Monica Kim
• Format: Book Part
• Language: unknown
• Published: Edinburgh University Press 2015
• Subjects: Norway; Nils; Kautokeino; sami; Sámi
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.3366/edinburgh/9780748694174.003.0005

This chapter provides a history of representations of Sámi peoples in Norwegian cinema over the past century, from the various remakes of Laila to comedies in the 1960s and 1970s indigenous rights documentaries. Mecsei examines recent developments in film production and Sámi language policies through the opening of the International Sámi Film Center in Guovdageaidnu-Kautokeino, Norway. The chapter outlines the history of the emergence of Sami self-representational film narratives through an analysis of the fiction feature films of Nils Gaup, including his groundbreaking films Pathfinder (1987) and The Kautokeino Rebellion (2008). Mecsei traces the further development of the diversity of Sámi feature filmmaking in two very distinct films: Paul-Anders Simma’s Minister of State (1997) and Lars Göran Pettersson’s Bázo (2003).