Amanda Kernell Brings Sami Drama Brace Your Heart to TIFF and San Sebastian
Amanda Kernell is back with Brace Your Heart, her third drama set in the Sámi world, screening at the Toronto International Film Festival and the San Sebastián Film Festival, according to Variety.
The Toronto listing had the film, whose original title is Garrat du váimmu, down for Saturday, 12 September at 5:50 PM in SCOTIA 6. In San Sebastián it sits in the Official Selection, the festival's main lineup. Sales agent TrustNordisk, the company that sells cinema rights to distributors around the world, is handling the film, Variety reported.
The story centres on Ejva, a young woman trying to find her place in a reindeer-herding community. After inheriting her late father's reindeer herd, she experiences true love for the first time, according to the San Sebastián Festival. TIFF describes the film as a portrait of love, resilience and the enduring strength of Sámi women in northernmost Europe, the Indigenous people of the far north.
Elli Sara Valkeapää plays young Ejva. Andte Gaup-Juuso plays Heaika. Sophia Olsson, in charge of camera and lighting as cinematographer, shot the film. The title comes from a saying meant to prepare young Sámi herders for a hard future.
Kernell has Sámi roots and previously directed Sámi Blood. Born in Umeå in 1986, she graduated from the National Film School of Denmark, according to Variety. She presented new projects at Göteborg's Nordic Film Market, the winter meeting where Nordic filmmakers show upcoming work to buyers and festival programmers.
The new film is organised as a Sweden-Norway-Denmark-Iceland-Bulgaria co-production, made with backing from five countries, the San Sebastián Festival said. Its trailer arrived in late August ahead of the Toronto and San Sebastián premieres, Variety reported.
What makes this stand out for festival watchers is continuity. Kernell first reached wide attention with Sámi Blood. Now she stays with the same community, but shifts focus to a young woman holding a herd, holding a family history and starting a love story at the same time.
