Marja Helander & Liselotte Wajstedt‘s In My Hand has been selected to Seattle International Film Festival, taking place from May 15–25, 2025 in Seattle, US.

In My Hand tells the story of the Sámi struggle on both a personal and historical level. The main character is Niillas Somby, a Sámi who is facing a 21-year prison sentence for attempted sabotage.

Marja Helander (b. 1965) is an award-winning Sámi artist and filmmaker from Finland. She graduated from the University of Art and Design in Helsinki in 1999. Her earlier work explored her identity between the Finnish and Sámi cultures. Her recent photographic work has focused on the northern landscape, exploring the link between the mining industry and today’s standard of living and culture of consumption, particularly the impact of mining on the sensitive northern nature. Her latest works include ÁFRUVVÁ (2022) and BIRDS IN THE EARTH (2018) that won several awards and was a part of Sundance Film Festival 2019 short film competition.

Liselotte Wajstedt (b. 1973) is a Sámi artist and filmmaker whose work spans from film and video to collage, painting, photography, sculpture, textiles, and installation. Behind her she has an education in painting and arts from The Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm, in addition to animation and experimental filmmaking with special emphasis on documentary storytelling and scriptwriting from the and Gotland University. Her experimental moving image body of work comprises over two dozen shorts and feature-length films. Her latest works include the short film EADNI (2023) and the feature documentary THE SILENCE IN SÁPMI (2022).

Seattle International Film Festival
May 15–25, 2025
Seattle, US

More information: SIFF – Medicine Circle: Indigenous Stories of Return