Ellos Eatnu - La Elva Leve
LET THE RIVER FLOW
At home, her Norwegian stepfather suppresses any trace of the Sámi roots in the family. Through her cousin, Ester becomes acquainted with environmental activists who oppose the Alta dam project, which would flood entire areas where Sámi live. The activists took the protest to Oslo and forced a temporary halt to the construction work with a hunger strike. At the end of the disputes, which lasted from 1968 to 1982, the dam was built. But the Sámi's self-image was sustainably strengthened, the entire public was sensitized, and as a result it became possible to win numerous rights, to participate in political decisions and to help shape social processes. The film traces Ester's process of becoming aware of her identity as a Sámi - an emotionally stirring process with, obviously, many parallels to Sorbian experiences in Lusatia. The majority of the actors involved are Sámi themselves.
Ole Giæver
Marius Matzow Gulbrandsen
Bent Holm
Ragnhild Juliane Sietta, Cecille De Lange
OLA FLØTTUM & PESSI LEVANTO
Ole Giæver - Ole Giæver, born in 1977, studied at the Nordland School of Arts and Film and Konstfack in Stockholm. His feature film debut THE MOUNTAIN (2011) was selected for the Panorama at the Berlinale. His second feature OUT OF NATURE (2015) premiered in Toronto and won the Europa Cinemas Label Award in the Berlinale Panorama. Also selected for the Panorama was FROM THE BALCONY (2017). His latest film LET THE RIVER FLOW, which had its world premiere at the Tromsø Film Festival, won the Audience Award there, as well as the Audience Award and the Fipresci Award at the Gothenburg Film Festival.
