Máhccan

Diving into the heart of a museum world in transformation, this film poignantly explores the process of returning Indigenous cultural artifacts to their rightful communities. Through the sensitive lens of Sámi filmmaker Suvi West, viewers are taken behind the scenes of Finland’s National Museum, which has embarked on the journey of repatriating thousands of everyday objects to the Sámi people. Blending personal introspection with collective memory, Suvi West’s narrative raises profound questions about the scars left by colonialism: How can the injustices inflicted upon the Sámi people be repaired? How can a heritage stolen for generations be revived? With inspiring sensitivity and humility, this film transcends the boundaries of traditional documentary, opening a universal dialogue about the restitution and reclamation of Indigenous art. It offers a vital reflection for all who care about cultural justice and the preservation of living legacies.

Award Winner : Finnish Film Award for Best Documentary of the Year

Director’s Statement:
For several years I’ve carried this story within me. I’ve written essays and given presentations about this subject. All the time it has been clear to me that I want to address this topic also in a cinematic way. This topic has returned to again and again in different places when interacting with other Sámis. Those stories that I’ve heard have made me understand the relevance which the history has in the lives of me and the future Sámi generations. I’ve grown to understand how the situations experienced in my childhood and teenage years have affected me. In those moments I’ve been clearly shown that I’m an ethnic object in front of the general population or foreigners and I should be allowed to be photographed without permission or talked using a racialized language.

The As haunting has been the visits in the museums, where our cultural heritage has been stuffed in vitrines and where the holy artefacts are free to be seen and photographed by everyone, like for example in the Nordiska Museet in Stockholm. All these perceptions and experiences I’ve concluded into the same core, which root all the way to our ancestral traumas. The destruction of the holy items and places, stealing the graves and the bones of them, forceful conversion into Christianity, presentation as a freak in a circus, racial studies, exoticization and objectification being part of that. I’ve come to realise how scientific examination history and being treated as lesser humans still live in attitudes and language, even in small, innocent ways.

How it can be seen in old photos, museums and even in the school institutes. It is not only my trauma, it is a collective trauma and experience ongoing for centuries now. When I heard about the initiative of the Finnish National Museum to return the Sámi collection, I strongly felt that I have to follow this process and make a film about this. The story should be told through empowerment, not through bitterness. I believe that this is unifying, positive, loving and even a spiritual journey. It is also important to show that the representatives of the general population want to do the right thing and lessen the inequality between our people. So the most important feeling in my film will be becoming whole and connected, even though difficult issues are dealt with.
- Suvi West