SeanChron | Suddenly-Sámi in Seattle

Image credit: Runar J. Wiik

10.22.12 - Serendipity indeed! Yesterday I discovered that a movie I had wanted to see for some time was playing at the Nordic Heritage Museum near my house in Seattle. The film was Suddenly Sámi, a 2009 award-winning documentary/autobiography by Norwegian filmmaker and writer, Ellen-Astri Lundby, that chronicles her exploration into her indigenous Sámi heritage, a fact that her Mother had hidden from her most of her life. It is a story about ancestry, culture, and traditions but also a story about identity and more importantly, self identity. Many themes in Sámi history are similar to other indigenous cultures around the world, such as historical trauma, but some elements are unique to the Sámi. The prospect of Lundby taking on her Sámi identity and heritage is treated with both sensitivity and humor that makes for a very entertaining story.

Below is the trailer for the movie...