First Swiss participation at Sami Film Festival in Norway
31.03.2006
With “Näkkälä” by Peter Ramseier (Production: T&C Films, Zurich), a Swiss documentary film is participating for the first time at the 10th Sami Film Festival competition, taking place in Kautokeino, Norway, from April 10 – 15, 2006. Films from various countries, among them Argentina, Australia, the Philippines, and Siberia, will be shown, which all have a special focus on indigenous culture and life. The main award, with a prize sum of nearly CHF 2,000, will go to the director of one of the 50 participating documentary, feature, or short films, which best “embodies the strength of a reindeer bull.”
The Sami film event – one of the most northerly festivals in the world – is part of Kautokeino’s Easter celebrations. Many of the screenings are taking place in a movie theatre made of ice which was built especially for this occasion. Viewers travel to the festival by snow scooter, or are transported to the magical location by reindeer taxi.
The documentary film “Näkkälä” was released in Swiss movie theaters in the summer of 2005 and has had a successful theatrical run with over 10,000 tickets sold. It was previously shown at the Solothurn Film Festival and the Tromso Film Festival in Norway. The film takes place in the Näkkälä village of the Finnish tundra, which has become a second home for Hans Ulrich Schwaar, who is originally from the Swiss Emmental region. In Näkkälä, he lives with his friend and host Iisakki-Matias Syväjärvi, who is of Sami heritage and owner of one of the largest reindeer herds. The daily activities closely follow the rhythm of nature and the reindeer. Peter Ramseier’s film has captured the lives and friendship of these two individuals from different cultures with spectacular and poetic imagery.
Zurich, March 31, 2006
The documentary film “Näkkälä” was released in Swiss movie theaters in the summer of 2005 and has had a successful theatrical run with over 10,000 tickets sold. It was previously shown at the Solothurn Film Festival and the Tromso Film Festival in Norway. The film takes place in the Näkkälä village of the Finnish tundra, which has become a second home for Hans Ulrich Schwaar, who is originally from the Swiss Emmental region. In Näkkälä, he lives with his friend and host Iisakki-Matias Syväjärvi, who is of Sami heritage and owner of one of the largest reindeer herds. The daily activities closely follow the rhythm of nature and the reindeer. Peter Ramseier’s film has captured the lives and friendship of these two individuals from different cultures with spectacular and poetic imagery.
Zurich, March 31, 2006