The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, the Museum of Modern Art, and New York University’s Center for Media, Culture and History are presenting First Nations/First Features: A Showcase of World Indigenous Film and Media to be held in May in New York City and Washington, D.C. Two Norwegian films will be presented in the Showcase.
Among the 20 directors attending to introduce their films is Nils Gaup (Sami/Norway). Paul-Anders Simma (Sami/Sweden/Norway) also originally planned to attend. Unfortunately, he will not be able to make it because of a new film production that he is in.
Norwegian films to be presented are:
Pathfinder
1987. Norway. Directed by Nils Gaup (Sami). With Mikkel Gaup, Nils Utsi. A young Lapp boy witnesses his family’s murder by a gang of Tchudes marauders, and is forced to be their pathfinder. Gaup’s debut feature -- the first Sami-language feature film -- based on a twelfth-century saga, achieved considerable international acclaim and set the path for the Sami filmmaker to make many other international co-productions. In Sami, English subtitles. 90 min.
New York: Saturday, May 14, 6:30 pm, The Museum of Modern Art
Washington D.C: Saturday, May 21, 6 pm, National Museum of Natural History.
The director Nils Gaup will be introducing the film both in New York and Washington D.C.
The Minister of State
Sweden/Norway. 1997. Written and directed by Paul Anders Simma (Sami). With Erik Kiviniemi, Bjorn Sundqvist, Sara Margrethe Oskal. A moral tale based on a true story, set in Sagojokk, a remote Sami village in Finland, during World War II. A handsome young man, found unconscious, claims he is a “minister of state” sent to the village to advance agrarian reform—a dream that unravels with the arrival of a second stranger. In Swedish, Norwegian, Sami, Finnish, and German, English subtitles. 83 min.
New York: Wednesday, May 18, 5:30 pm, The Museum of Modern Art
Most New York screenings, Thursday, May 12 – Monday, May 23, will be held in the Roy and Niuta Titus Theaters at the Museum of Modern Art.
In Washington, D.C., on May 18 – May 22 screenings will be held at eight venues-Canadian Embassy, Library of Congress, National Gallery of Art, National Museum of Women in the Arts, and the Smithsonian’s Freer Gallery of Art/Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, National Museum of Natural History, and National Museum of the American Indian.
For inquiries and complete schedule for First Nations/First Features go to www.firstnationsfirstfeatures.org (to be launched on April 28, 2005). For inquiries, go to the NMAI Film + Video Center website at www.nativenetworks.si.edu and “Contact Us” or e-mail fvc@si.edu. Phone: 212-514-3737 or 202-633-6790.