During the 1930's in Sweden, indigenous Sami children were systematically removed from their parents (a practice common in Scandinavia over the nineteenth and twentieth century). Reindeer-herding teenager Elle-Marja (Lene Cecilia Sparrok) is one of these children, sent to a boarding school where indigenous students are taught Swedish language and customs, and made acceptable' to white society'. During her stay, Elle-Marja is torn between assimilating and her burgeoning sense of self...
Beautifully articulating adolescent anxiety and the impact of one culture seeking to deny another, Kernell's hyper-specific setting uncovers an engrossing, universal story, one particularly familiar within the context of Australian history.
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