Hurtigruten Nordic Film Festival 2026 – opening night

Norwegian, North Sámi, Finnish, Swedish with English subtitles

From debut director Elle Sofe Sara, the powerful, music-filled new drama Árru follows a family of Sàmi reindeer herders whose fight to protect their Indigenous lands from a proposed copper mining project exposes long-buried family secrets.

Single mother Maia (Sara Marielle Gaup Beaska), her daughter Áilin (Ayla Nutti) and her brother Dánel (Simon Issát Marainen) live and work the starkly beautiful lands of Sápmi, northern Scandinavia, but their community and way of life face existential threat from the encroaching mining project. As protests rise, Maia turns to her long-absent uncle, charismatic lawyer Lemme (Mikkel Gaup), for help. But his presence soon reopens old, deeply buried family wounds, forcing Maia into an impossible reckoning between kinship and conscience.

Weaving together grounded drama with bursts of traditional song (joik) and movement, the singular Árru draws on Sámi cultural expression to explore a breathtakingly genuine connection to the environment. It is a fierce and cathartic tale about resilience, reclaiming one's voice and standing firm for the land that endures.

“Elle Sofe Sara’s striking debut feature sets a universal story within the distinctive culture of the Sámi people.” - Screendaily

OFFICIAL SELECTION - Berlin International Film Festival 2026 (Panorama)