TIFF25: “A Sámi Wedding” Shows Family is Chaotic Everywhere
In 2002, writer Nia Vardalos’ My Big Fat Greek Wedding introduced the world to a new kind of nuptial ceremony. It wasn’t the graceful, perfectly planned wedding pop culture had gotten us used to. My Big Fat Greek Wedding gave a chaotic, loud Greek family the spotlight and made people realize we’re really not that different. Swap out some customs, traditions, and foods, and you’ve got a snapshot of pretty much every other culture around the world. Premiering as part of the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival, A Sámi Wedding is a new series about a wedding steeped in tradition, but immediately recognizable to anyone from any place in the world who’s trying to plan something with their family.
Photo Mer Film, Tordenfilm
Garen (Sara Margrethe Oskal) lives in the town of Kautokeino in northern Norway. She’s in a loveless marriage and frustrated that the rest of the town views her and her family as less than. She sees an opportunity to climb the social ladder in the upcoming marriage of her son Ailo (Per John P. Eira) to Inga (Sárá Gáren Ánne Nilut), the daughter of Garen’s nemesis, Berit (Anni-Kristiina Juuso), and from a family of privilege. Ailo has proposed and Inga has accepted, but they aren’t interested in a large wedding. That won’t fly with Garen, who takes it upon herself to put together a massive celebration to raise her status in the town.
As part of TIFF, episodes one, two, and five of A Sámi Wedding are shown. The first two episodes introduce the audience to the large cast of characters who make up the series. It’s a true ensemble piece, as all family matters are. The main cast are Garen and her younger siblings who are often at odds with Garen’s desire to join the upper echelons of society. There’s also Henry (Ánte Siri), who left Norway years ago for New York City and is coerced back home for the wedding. Coming along with him is his boyfriend, Michael (Craig Stein), who knows very little about the customs of the wedding he’s about to experience.
Photo Mer Film, Tordenfilm
Like My Big Fat Wedding before it, A Sámi Wedding blends specificity of place and culture to weave a story that is universal. It’s funny, it’s maddening, and it’s like spending an hour-and-a-half with your extended family. A Sámi Wedding is a comedy of errors mixed with social and cultural clashes that could easily be solved if people were honest with one another. That’s another thing that transcends all manmade borders. Humans, for all the languages and means of communication we’ve created, are woefully unprepared to be vulnerable and honest.
A Sámi Wedding is about the universality of parents and children, and the ways they cannot understand each other. The series is supported by the International Sámi Film Institute and the Indigenous Cinema Alliance, which has allowed for a culture unknown to many to have the spotlight at one of the world’s largest celebrations of filmmaking. What makes events like TIFF so important for the artform is not just the collection of movies made by modern greats, but the chance for audiences to see a way of living they may otherwise never get the chance to experience. A Sámi Wedding may look a little different from the weddings you’re familiar with, but the bickering, the love, and the communal celebration of joy are all the same.
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