14/03/2025 - Through the story of a teenager experiencing an identity crisis, Egil Pedersen’s brilliant first work takes an original and modern approach to depicting the Sámi minority from the far north of Norway

Sarah Olaussen Eira and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau in My Fathers’ Daughter

With its dramatic story set in the 1930s about a Sámi girl who tries to escape Swedish racism by denying her culture, Sami Blood [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Amanda Kernell
interview: Lars Lindstrom
film profile] by Amanda Kernell had informed us about the discrimination suffered by this people in Lapland ten years ago, tackling the themes of finding one’s identity and struggling to integrate. More recently, Let the River Flow [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ole Giæver
film profile] by Ole Giæver explored the theme with a greater political focus, while the more intimate movie Stolen, directed by Elle Márjá Eira, combined the defence of Sámi culture with threats to the environment in a kind of Nordic Bildungsroman. And My Fathers’ Daughter [+see also:
trailer
film profile], competing in the Bergamo Film Festival following its premiere in Toronto’s Discovery section, also shares the characteristics of a coming-of-age film. Exploring the sense of belonging and gender identity, Sámi director Egil Pedersen has chosen the comedy route for his debut feature film.

Here, too, we find a teenager, called Elvira - played to perfection by an irresistible Sarah Olaussen Eira-  who lives with her mother Beate (Ingá Elisá Påve Idivuoma) in the Sámi village of Unjárga, in the far north of Norway (her little bedroom is home to a variety of posters pay homage to the afore-mentioned films). Her mother has convinced her that she was conceived in a fertility clinic in Copenhagen, so the little girl “identifies as half-Danish” and fantasises about being the daughter of Danish actor and Game of Thrones star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. We see her chatting and having Danish lessons with the actor (who ironically agreed to appear in this little film), learning “gulerodjuice”, “rundstykker” and even the most difficult word to pronounce “wienerbrød”. Harsh reality, however, comes in the form of a man who’s being released from prison, wearing a jacket with antlers on it and covered in tattoos: he’s called Terje (Aslat Mahtte Gaup) and he’s determined to meet the daughter he had 15 years earlier, following a random encounter with Beate. Who subsequently realised she was a lesbian and is now with cod fisherwoman Rita (Ánne Mággá Wigelius).

As the newcomer clashes with the family of three women, teenager Elvira is wary of everyone, questioning her mum and dad’s capacity to be good parents. The former lied to her because she’s had to hide who she really is for her entire life, while the latter is only trying to give meaning to his ridiculous life by obtaining acknowledgement from his daughter. When Elvira begins to accept him, Terje can’t help but give her bad advice of the “dog-eat-dog” kind, such as breaking into an adult club at a concert and getting drunk, or blowing up the phone of the young, hypocritical influencer who’s exploiting Elvira’s family troubles to attract more followers. “I thought I was 50% Danish, genetically speaking, but it turns out I’m 50% idiot”.  This is precisely how men come across in this film, as idiots. Such as the school headteacher who invents disco-basketball (involving dancing while throwing the ball into the net) to please his PE students and who’s beyond proud to have a student who’s an influencer “with 30,000 followers”. 

Through the story of a teenager in crisis who has to wrestle with social struggles and who fights to find her place in the world, Egil Pedersen’s brilliant screenplay takes a modern and original approach to depicting the Sámi minority, who have ended up blending in with the rest of the population with their “woke” excesses and the idea that “right thinking” is better than “free thinking”. It’s an affectionate but insightful satire combining humour and complexity, and gently mocking the process of “Norwegification”, alongside ancient shamanic rites, the gakti (a typical sámi article of clothing), ethnic ties, family, Marx’s capital city and granny’s rhubarb porridge. 

My Fathers’ Daughter was co-produced by Norway, Sweden and Finland by way of Rein Film, Paasan, Oktober, Bautafilm and Filmpool Nord. Pluto Film are managing global distribution.

(Translated from Italian)