In conjunction with the online screening ot the film Anerca later this week, we have invited veteran documentary film director Markku Lehmuskallio and his son Johannes Lehmuskallio to a discussion about the making of the film. The discussion will be led by Petra Laiti, who is known among other things for her work for the rights of the Sámi people.
Anerca depicts the indigenous cultures living along the Arctic Circle, inside the borders of Finland, Sweden, Norway, Greenland (Denmark), Canada, Alaska (U.S.) and Russia – borders which were not drawn by these cultures.
Anerca is a film about indigenous peoples inner world view and the breath of the Arctic Region. There are two kinds of breath; the kind that sustains life and the kind that expresses existence. In the Inuktitut language, the word for “to create poetry” is the same as the word for “to breathe”. These words are derived from anerca. Anerca means the soul, the breath of life.
As a person, community or people breathes the joy or pain of their existence, this reveals something either detached from or ingrained in everyday life and, crucially to the one who breathes, it is the breath of life. In Anerca, the Arctic peoples are breathing.
