Sami Blood

Sami Blood is a 2016 Swedish coming-of-age drama film written and directed by Amanda Kernell, as her feature film debut. The first 10 minutes of the film (and part of the end) comes directly from the short film (2015, dir. Amanda Kernell). Stoerre Vaerie is Kernell's first film with Sami themes and it was nominated for the Short Film Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, Park City, Utah, USA. The film is set in Sweden in the 1930s and concerns a 14-year-old girl who experiences prejudice at a nomad school for Sami children, and decides to escape her town and disavow her Sami heritage. Parts of the story are inspired by Kernell's own grandmother. The film premiered at the 73rd edition of the Venice Film Festival in the Venice Days section, in which it was awarded the Europa Cinemas Label Award and the Fedeora Award for Best Debut Director. It won the 2017 Lux Prize and was nominated for the 2017 Nordic Council Film Prize. Plot In 2017, 78-year-old Christina comes with her son Olle and granddaughter Sanna to a small town in Swedish Lapland to attend the Sami funeral of her younger sister. Christina, who locals call by her original Sami name, Elle-Marjadoes, does not want to be there. She calls the Sami people thieves and liars, and is disturbed when people speak to her in her first language Southern Sami. She refuses to spend the night at her late sister's family home and would rather check into a hotel. In the evening Christina remembers her childhood and the events that drove her away from her community.