Gränsen

In our film Radji/Gränsen we follow a territorial battle between the state of Norway and the “Swedish” Sami village of Saarivuoma. Our main character is Simon Marainen, a Sami reindeer herder and musician. He and his group move every spring with their reindeer to Norway and stay there until the end of September. Today, Simon is experiencing more and more problems. Norwegian authorities seem to be more and more determined to prevent these “Swedes” from moving to and living in Norway. To secure his future reindeer husbandry, his Sami village has sued the Norwegian state. The Sami village demands to be allowed to continue with its traditional reindeer husbandry on the Norwegian side. The conflict takes place in the Norwegian legal system, as well as in nature, against local police, authorities, summer cottage owners and a group of rival Norwegian Sami reindeer herders. In the film, we also follow the Sami village’s chairman, Per Anders, who will not only work with the family’s reindeer herd, lead the Sami village’s joint work, but also fight to maintain what he considers an obvious right. As a “Swedish citizen” to use land on the Norwegian side as grazing land for his and the Sami village’s reindeer herd.