Wimme Saari

Umur tells a love story strongly connected to the nature of Lapland, in which Poika, a young border guard played with sensitivity by Heikki Rantanen, falls passionately in love with the mysterious Lapland beauty Umuri.

A man uses a case of mistaken identity to gain the confidence of a small village, and in the process exposes universal human traits: honour, greed, honesty, and eventually love.

Wimme Saari is one of the best known Sami yoikers from Finland. He combines traditional Sami singing with his own improvisations, usually to a techno-ambient accompaniment by members of Finnish electronic group RinneRadio. Wimme has also appeared on the albums of other bands or musicians, for instance Hedningarna, Nits or Hector Zazou.

In this beautiful and thought-provoking film, artist and film maker Roz Mortimer leads us on a hypnotic journey to the High Arctic. Using historical texts, medieval maps and contemporary first person accounts, Mortimer explores the traditional relationship Inuit have to the earth and gently challenges our Western relationship to science and knowledge. This poetic and visually stunning film weaves epic scenes of contemporary Inuit life with startling throat singing performances and staged tableaux set within the frozen Arctic landscape.