EATNAMEAMET

Eatnameamet – Our Silent Struggle is a political documentary revealing the Finnish Governments assimilation and colonisation policy towards the Sámi people. The Sámi people are fighting for their existence and their uncertain future with political acts. Eatnameamet is a pamphlet and a cry for help for the future of the only indigenous people of the European Union – through the voices of the Sámi people themselves. In the film the Sámi people bring out the effects of the Government of Finland’s colonising policy in their everyday lives. They are concerned about the welfare of the people and do everything for the moral and legal rights of the Sámi people in Finland. It is however extremely hard, since the interests of the Government in the Sámi region are financial, and the rights of the Sámi people do not fit together with the utilisation of the natural resources.

The film will show that in every dispute of the Sámi people, in the end the real concern is the rights for lands and natural wealth. The story is focused on the present day and future. How to save a broken, disappearing nation? How to survive as a nation in this country, where the Government seems to make ruthless decisions at the expense of the nation’s vitality and mental health? As the fight against the State drives the individuals to the brink of exhaustion and despair, where can the healing and survival be found?

The scenes of the film consist of political situations, discussions closed from the mainstream people of Finland, intimate interviews, archive material and tracking shots of nature and the Earth. The film is based on different encounters with Sámi people. Eatnameamet offers a unique possibility to get to follow the Sámi people’s fight for their existence in Finland. The treatment of Sámi people throughout history has not been following any of the international laws, and when it comes to the Sámi people, the Government has violated both civil rights and its own laws in many ways. The filmmakers have recorded the distress and despair of the Sámi people. With this film the audience will be able to understand how the Sámi people feel, when the base of their own culture is bit by bit decaying. The story is universal, since many of the indigenous people are having the same struggle around the world.

Sápmi – Documentary – 74 min – Director: Doavtter-Piera Suvi Máret / Suvi West

Director Statement
Eatnameamet – Our Silent struggle is a collective cry for help of the Sámi people.

This film is born from my personal experience living as a Sámi here in Finland. Time after time I’ve come across to misinformation, prejudices and oppressive structures towards us. My people and culture are fighting a silent war against increasing colonialism. I felt that I also need to do something on behalf of our future. So Eatnameamet came to be. Story about colonialism isn’t my personal story or a singular experience of any individual. Expropriation of the land, forced Finnishzation, destruction of our livelihood and curtailment of our rights had been a collective pain for my people. This story couldn’t have been told through a single point of view. Listening to people I realised that we are at the core of undealt traumas. For me, Eatnameamet is a collective cry for help.

This film was born from the love for my Sámi people and the Sámi land. We Sámi’s have the right to get our voice to be heard, but it is also a right for everyone else to learn about the Sámi people and our current situation. Knowledge creates understanding and understanding is essential for peaceful coexistence of two different nations in the same state. Ignorance isn’t anyone’s fault, the problem is in the oppressive structures. I invite the audience to this journey into the realm of the Sámi’s where one must take a silent stand and fight for the preservation of the culture for the future generations.