Yläkoulukino: Je´vida

Je’vida, the first ever film in the Skolt Sámi language.

Film tells the story of a woman (Sanna-Kaisa Palo) who has abandoned her background under the pressure of forced Finnicisation and whose story is told on three time planes.

Iida, an elderly Skolt Sámi woman, finds herself torn between selling her old homestead and hiding her cultural heritage, as the natural world she has suppressed begins to creep back in.

The subtle black and white cinematography elevates the surrounding nature as a metaphor for loss and reconciliation. Je’vida (2023) won three Jussi awards: for music, sound design and costume design.

Katja Gauriloff’s second feature-length fiction film Je’vida is the world’s first feature-length drama film in the Skolt Sámi language. Gauriloff herself is related to the Skolt Sámi on her mother’s side, and the film is based on stories the director has heard from her own relatives and acquaintances.

Gauriloff has previously explored her own Sámi background and identity in her documentaries Huuto tuuleen (2007) and Kuun metsän Kaisa (2016).

Directed by: Katja Gauriloff
Cast: Agafia Niemenmaa, Heidi Juliana Gauriloff, Sanna-Kaisa Palo, Seidi Haarla
Script: Katja Gauriloff, Niillas Holmberg
Production country: Finland

Koulukino (School Cinema Association) learning materials for the film are available at: https://www.koulukino.fi/oppimateriaalit/jevida/
Themes of the learning material: the Sámi people, indigenous peoples, Skolt Sámi culture, boarding school experiences, forced Finnicisation, cultural identity, language loss.

“Je’vida is one of the best Finnish films of the year and a political act by its very existence” – HS

Duration: 103 min
Recommended age: 12+
Language: Skolt Sámi, Finnish
Free admission, groups are required to register in advance: kultus.hel.fi from 13 January from 10.00 onwards.