Marja Helander

Sami dance students Birit and Katja Haarla dance through the villages and lost woods of Sápmi all the way to where the important decisions are made. The polarity of Nature and the Western way of life is filtered through sharp humour.

An exploration of the personal and historical struggles of the Sámi people, navigating imprisonment, protests, and surreal encounters, providing a unique insight into one man's extraordinary journey.

Shelter (Suodji) is an adaptation of an old story from Utsjoki, Sápmi, to the present. It is a legend of what the director´s relative, Ovllá-Ivvár Helander, did during the Spanish flu epidemic in 1918 in Utsjoki. Ovllá-Ivvár decided to fool Death and take his fate into his own hands. Today we are facing similar threats. The protagonist of the film is walking in Ovllá-Ivvár´s footsteps. But at the end, who its really who?