{"id":2810,"date":"2021-02-05T02:25:55","date_gmt":"2021-02-05T00:25:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tamperefilmfestival.fi\/?p=2810"},"modified":"2022-02-06T15:12:30","modified_gmt":"2022-02-06T13:12:30","slug":"interview-with-katja-gauriloff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tamperefilmfestival.fi\/en\/interview-with-katja-gauriloff\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Katja Gauriloff"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Nainen
Photo: Anssi Jokiranta\/Lapin Kansa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

February 6th is the S\u00e1mi National Day. Films by S\u00e1mi directors will be seen in several screenings in the Tampere Film Festival 2021 programme.\u00a0S<\/em>\u00e1mi Filbma<\/em>\u00a0screening, curated by the S\u00e1mi Film Institute (ISF), is a versatile set of contemporary S\u00e1mi films, many of them handling the current pandemic era through bubbly humour and ripping choices, not forgetting old mythologies. Two screenings, organized by\u00a0WIFT Finland<\/a>, are dedicated to the S\u00e1mi director\u00a0Katja Gauriloff<\/strong>\u00a0and the awarded documentaries\u00a0Canned Dreams<\/em>\u00a0(2011) and\u00a0Kaisa\u2019s Enchanted Forest\u00a0<\/em>(2016). Gauriloff\u2019s poetic film\u00a0Duoddara modjegobit,\u00a0<\/em>directed for the artist\u00a0Niillas Holmberg<\/strong>\u00a0(Guorga), will be seen in the S\u00e1mi Filbma screening. The director will also host a\u00a0Womarts<\/a>\u00a0Masterclass on March 13.<\/p>\n

Katja Gauriloff is a strong and distinctive filmmaker. We wanted to hear their views, experiences and thoughts as a film director representing the Skolt S\u00e1mi culture. Gauriloff was interviewed by Tampere Film Festival\u2019s Communications Assistant\u00a0Mirjami Vertainen.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have understood that you have a strong S\u00e1mi identity. How does it affect your life?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I live between two worlds, Rovaniemi and Utsjoki, where my spouse is from. In the summer I fish and in the winter I work, in a typical Skolt S\u00e1mi way.<\/p>\n

I try to combine filmmaking with a natural lifestyle. In addition to my work, I study Northern S\u00e1mi, which is my spouse\u2019s home language. I will also study my own native language, Skolt S\u00e1mi. This is a lifelong project. I\u2019m also practising to make traditional S\u00e1mi handicrafts (duodji) \u2013 at this very moment, I am tanning fish skins for my future crafts. I am particularly fond of it now, it is wonderful to make materials by natural methods.<\/p>\n

How has your Skolt S\u00e1mi identity influenced you as a director?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure if I would be a filmmaker if I wasn\u2019t a Skolt S\u00e1mi and if I hadn\u2019t have to struggle with it from an early age. As a young film student, I felt compelled to take up something that needed to be fixed. We, the Skolt S\u00e1mi, had not yet been presented in the film through our own point of view. The history remained unseen by the majority. Too many eyes had been closed. I also felt that our own people were missing and needing film as a part of the unification.<\/p>\n

How would you describe the history of the Skolt S\u00e1mi?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Skolt S\u00e1mi community was torn apart by World War II and the loss of land in Petsamo. The long evacuation period and the resettling of the Skolt S\u00e1mi people forced us living apart from each other. The strong post-war Finlandization policy and dormitory school system almost destroyed our own language. A generation of our parents were taught to be ashamed of their S\u00e1miness.<\/p>\n

What is the current culture of the Skolt S\u00e1mi like?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Today the Skolt S\u00e1mi community works hard for recovering the language and raising up a new generation of native speakers. It is very difficult, because people live in different parts of Finland, not just in the S\u00e1milands. There are plenty of challenges on other levels as well. Different prospects that continue threatening our livelihoods, climate change, and colonialist projects, whether in the Arctic Ocean or in the mining industry, are a constant ordeal. It is very exhausting to be constantly on the defensive.<\/p>\n

How would you describe Skolt S\u00e1mi in relation to other S\u00e1mi cultures?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Skolt S\u00e1mi culture is a very old S\u00e1mi culture that over time has been influenced by the neighboring eastern cultures, such as Karelians. Orthodoxy, leu\u2019dd (Skolt S\u00e1mi yoiku), katrilli, dance songs, and dressing, differentiate Skolt S\u00e1mi from other, more western S\u00e1mi peoples. After the evacuation period, the Skolt S\u00e1mi people could no longer return to their own lands. We were driven apart and left homeless, putting down new roots.<\/p>\n

\"Hymyilev\u00e4
Kuva elokuvasta Kuun mets\u00e4n Kaisa (Katja Gauriloff, 2016)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In\u00a0Kaisa\u2019s Enchanted Forest,\u00a0<\/em>you\u2019re telling beautifully about your great grandmother and her stories. What was it like to make that film, how did it affect you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kaisa\u2019s Enchanted Forest<\/em>\u00a0is the most important film I have ever made. In that film, I was able to use my own style to tell about things that are very personal and also in deep relation with the history of my folk. My great-grandmother is at the center of the film. She was a very special person with a huge knowledge and spiritual legacy to share. Tough the history is what it is the followers of this tradition today are active in various fields of art.<\/p>\n

The filmmaking process itself was quite hard. As a S\u00e1mi filmmaker, you have a certain responsibility about the way of speaking, what is told and in what way. You feel responsible for the people.<\/p>\n

For this project, I found a box full of 16 millimeter films that had been filmed among our family. I was surprised to find materials from the 1950\u2019s that showed the elation and joy of life. Play, laughter and dance. Somehow I didn\u2019t expect that, because I knew more about the difficulties people and our families had faced. However, everyday life was bright and even happy. It came across from the films, and I also wanted to highlight that in the movie.<\/p>\n

How did it feel to watch the movie yourself?<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is a doubt about the success of every film. When we looked through the first editing version with my editor\u00a0Timo Peltola,<\/strong>\u00a0it was a moving moment and we knew that the film is going to be what it was meant to be. The most important screening was the premiere we had in Inari, in front of the S\u00e1mi audience. The feedback I received there was relieving. The approval of the S\u00e1mi community felt particularly important, and that was the most important award I received.<\/p>\n

Do you follow S\u00e1mi films yourself? Is there a particular film you would like to mention?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Of the current S\u00e1mi films, I would like to highlight\u00a0Suvi West<\/strong>\u2018s latest film\u00a0Eatnameamet \u2013 Min jaskes d\u00e1istaleapmi (Eatnameamet \u2013 Our silent struggle)<\/em>. I haven\u2019t seen it yet, but I look forward to it.\u00a0The Skabmagovat Film Festival<\/a>\u00a0<\/a><\/em>took place just a while ago, and they had a great selection of S\u00e1mi films and also films by other indigenous people, like the Maori films from Aotearoa.<\/p>\n

What are you currently working on?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am currently writing the first Skolt S\u00e1mi feature film in history with Niillas Holmberg, which is a thematic sequel to\u00a0Kaisa\u2019s Enchanted Forest<\/em>. I hope we get to production soon.<\/p>\n

Thank you, Katja, and see you at the festival!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Suvi West\u2019s film\u00a0Eatnameamet \u2013 Min jaskes d\u00e1istaleapmi,<\/em>\u00a0which is mentioned in the article, will be seen in the National Competition of Tampere Film Festival 2021. The full Programme will be announced on February 17th.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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