When Netflix announced a film adaptation of Ann-Helén Laestadius’ award-winning novel Stolen, many people were wondering how the authenticity of Laestadius’ tale of the indigenous Norwegian Sámi people would be maintained on the screen. Glen Pearce caught up with director Elle Márjá Eira to discuss reindeer and bringing this story to film.
Elle Márjá Eira’s career spans many genres – a writer, musician, and film director, but although a successful short film writer and director, Stolen marks her feature directorial debut and a story that Eira felt a personal connection to. “I liked the book first and foremost,” she explains. “It’s an important story about something that has happened and is still going on.” From Kautokeino in northern Norway, Eira’s personal experience resonates closely with the themes explored in Stolen. “I am a reindeer herder myself and recognise myself in the character of Elsa. I have always dreamed of making a contemporary film about reindeer herding, and this story is so important to Sápmi [the traditional lands of the Sámi people that includes Kautokeino].
Filming in the frozen, yet breath-taking lands of Sápmi comes with its own logistical challenges, but Eira’s background came in useful. “I think I simply used my own experience as a reindeer herder. I know how to dress in -40, I’m used to not eating or drinking for a whole day, and how to simply pack a sled when you’re going far away out on the tundra!”
There is a showbusiness saying about never working with children and animals, yet in Stolen there’s a focus around large numbers of reindeer in herds, and despite advances in technology, scenes featuring these majestic animals were shot live, a challenge that called on all of Eira’s herding knowledge. “I think the most challenging part was filming a thousand reindeer, and they were not tame!” she laughs.
The tundra isn’t perhaps the natural home for your usual Hollywood actor so casting local Sámi actors was an early demand from the director. “First and foremost, I wanted to bring as many Sámi people as possible both in front of and behind the camera. For me, it was important to bring authenticity so that the film feels real and realistic,” she explains. “We cast reindeer herders for the film who have their own stories and experiences as the characters have in the film so that they could relate to the story.”
Though bringing authenticity and much-needed skills and confidence around working with dogs and reindeer herds, many of Eira’s Sámi actors had never been in a film before. As a director, how did Eira approach working with these novice actors? “We used their own experiences as reindeer herders while working with the various characters,” she expounds. However, the process of using untrained actors has the added benefit of offering Stolen an almost documentary feel.
The film is filmed in the Sámi language, but Netflix provide a dubbed version as well as the subtitled version in various languages, for the director though, there’s a special connection watching the piece in its original language. “I always watch films in the original language myself. It gives the most weight and authenticity. I hope that people see the film in the Sámi language.”
There’s a short, yet powerful, scene in the film where a tourist asks for a selfie with Elsa, the lead character, thinking she’s part of some tourist attraction. For Eira, it’s sadly a common reality. “We experience it all the time,” she explains dolefully. “Most recently in Stockholm, when me and Elin Kristina [who plays Elsa] were at the Stolen press pre-screening. We were wearing our traditional clothing – Gákti. Every time we went out, people stopped us and wanted to take pictures.”
Understanding of the Sámi population is still relatively unknown, even in parts of Scandinavia. “People were asking us where we were from, when we said that we are the indigenous people of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. There were many who had never heard of us, unfortunately.”
For Eira, the rich Sámi culture is something she hopes connects with audiences. “I hope that people watch the film with an open mind and that they feel something when they see the film. I also hope that they learn something and that they understand the reindeer herding Sámi’s situation better,” she explains. She also hopes the audience understands this is an ongoing story. “The audience must remember that this is about our lives, and when the film is over, we continue to live our lives still under difficult and pressured conditions.”
Those difficult conditions are a stark reality of life for the Sámi community, even today. “We have a very dark history where the Sámi have experienced racism, colonialism, and discrimination, but this is something we still experience,” says Eira. It’s a struggle she believes is little understood. “I think people generally have too little knowledge and understanding of us. But luckily there are also people who understand and support us.”
Sharing what is at times a painful story with a wider audience has resonated though with the Sámi community. “I have received so much lovely feedback in Sápmi. People have shared powerful and sad stories with me experiencing similar challenges as the character does in the film.” For Eira that community reaction has been a vital part of her Stolen journey “For me, it was most important that my own people like the film. Many Sámi people have written to me that “but that’s how it is in reality”. Many have thanked me for telling this story.”
Under the auspices of Netflix, however, that community story is now reaching a global audience and it’s a move Eira appreciates. “I am grateful that Netflix chose to make Stolen. I think they were very brave.” She also hopes the film will benefit a wider community of filmmakers: “I also think it is very good for the entire Sámi film industry. I think people have started to discover indigenous stories, and there are so many hidden and untold stories. We have a treasure chest full of stories waiting to be told to the rest of the world.”
It’s a delicate balance of new versus old, a world where the digital age sometimes seems at odds with centuries-old traditions of passing stories from generation to generation. For Eira though, innovative technology supports, not replaces, that vibrant history. “I believe that the digital world and the film world are tools to reach out to a large audience and market. But we still have the oral storytelling tradition very much alive, such as, for example, joik [a traditional Sámi song-form]. We do that every day at my home.”
For Eira, the worldwide release of Stolen and its global press and media commitments doesn’t cloud her view on what’s next for her. “First and foremost, to get home from LA. I will then go straight to the spring migration with my reindeer herd.” It’s not the end of the road for Elle Márjá Eira on screen, though. “Then of course I’ll work on new film projects.”
Stolen is out now on Netflix and available to watch worldwide
