The International Sami Film Institute (ISFI) has extended its partnership with Netflix through a new producers lab for emerging and mid-career producers.
The Sami Producers Lab will provide Sami producers with a platform for developing skills and learning from film industry professionals. The six-month lab will start in October 2024 with a residential module in Guovdageaidnu, Norway, followed by online sessions in November 2024 and January-February 2025.
The lab is open to producers developing feature, documentary and short-film projects. Anne Lajla Utsi, ISFI managing director, described it as an “opportunity for Sami filmmakers to acquire essential skills in film production while also focusing on their current film project.”
The European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs (EAVE) is a partner on the lab, which will use EAVE methodology in its workshops for group work and individual consultations.
Former Canada Media Fund executive Tamara Dawit will be the head of studies for the programme, with Greenland producer Emile Hertling Péronard as the group leader and Finnish film consultant Petri Kemppinen as an advisor on funding, applications and reports and company planning.
The lab is an extension of the partnership between the ISFI and Netflix that began in 2022, to support and develop Sami filmmakers in the Nordic region, as part of the Netflix Fund for Creative Equity.
It was launched by Claire Willats, director of film for Netflix Nordics, who then left the streamer later that year. Jenny Stjernstromer Bjork, VP of content in the Nordics, is now overseeing the partnership.
Sami people are indigenous peoples inhabiting the Sapmi region, which encompasses northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Kola Peninsula in Russia.
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