Sami Sänpäkkilä‘s film Ritual for the Rainbow will be shown at five film festivals who are part of NosJE network of Nordic children’s and youth film festivals: Reykjavik International Film Festival (Iceland), BUFF Malmö Film Festival (Sweden), Kristiansand International Children’s Film Festival (Norway) Oulu International Children’s and Youth Film Festival (Finland) and BUSTER Film Festival (Denmark) during 2025. The project is coordinated by NoJSe network.

The NoJSe network consists of five children’s film festivals from the Nordic region in Europe
and has existed since 2017. The collaboration is strengthening the dissemination of Nordic films for young audiences in the Nordic Region of Europe.

As part of the same project, the film is also licenced to educational platform Norden i Skolen.

Sänpäkkilä’s film will be translated to eight nordic languages (Sami, Inuit, Faroese, Icelandic, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish and Danish).

“We, together with director Sänpäkkilä, are delighted about this wonderful opportunity to bring Finnish media art into Nordic classrooms and children’s and youth film events. International actors also recognize the unique potential of media art in media education. Through and with art, it is possible to discuss both the means of audiovisual expression and societal phenomena,” says AV-arkki’s Director, Hanna Maria Anttila.

Ritual for the Rainbow is a story about four preteens who live outside of society’s safety nets due to domestic violence. Ariel, Rupi, Liisa, and Hemmo make a living by shooting rats at a junkyard and collecting empty bottles. They lack role models and authority figures until they meet a Wiccan who organises rituals to teach them confidence and how to combat violence and patriarchy — for a fee, of course.

Sami Sänpäkkilä lives and works in Tampere, Finland. He is an artist, musician, filmmaker and the head of Fonal Records since 1995. To date he has released five full-length music albums under the name Es. Since 1999 Sänpäkkilä has made installations, short films and music videos, which have been screened in various museums, art galleries and film festivals around the world. His films and the music are experimental moodscapes that explore the themes of melancholy, pathos and hope.

AV-arkki has promoted and distributed Finnish media art since 1989. AV-arkki’s promotional efforts have made the artists’ participation in this event possible. If you want to hear the latest news from our distribution, subscribe to our newsletter!