This international degree program, presented on Friday, January 24 by ULapland's Faculty of Art and Design's Vice-Dean (research) Jonna Häkkilä, is set to start during the 2026-27 academic year and will be taught in English. It will serve to empower Indigenous communities with education and tools for digital storytelling, integrating Indigenous culture and new media. The courses will notably take place via a hybrid model, with the curriculum itself encompassing the following content:

  • The dramaturgy, narrative forms and expression of film, media arts, and media
  • Screenwriting for moving images, film, and interactive media works
  • Directing processes and production practices in film and media art
  • Traditions and forms of Indigenous storytelling and their applications to different audiovisual narrative methods 

Program Goals

  • Develop master's level cinema and storytelling education.
  • Bridge cultural heritage with modern digital storytelling
  • Enable cross-border cooperation and capacity building
  • Foster Indigenous-led narratives for global and local dissemination

The development of the degree program has been carried out jointly between the University of Lapland, Sámi Allaskuvla, and Umeå University, with funding from Interreg Aurora, a program co-funded by the EU to help facilitate cross-border cooperation between Northern Europe and Sápmi. Panel moderator Liisa Holmberg, Film Commissioner at the International Sámi Film Institute, Norway, and vice-lead of the UArctic Thematic Network of Arctic Indigenous Film underlined the importance of such programs, as holding a degree in this field helps to level the playing field in a sense for Indigenous filmmakers who are trying to share their stories to wider audiences; by possessing this western qualification, more doors are in effect opened to funding opportunities and production deals. 

The panel discussion concerned itself with the subject of Arctic Indigenous Co-Productions & Education across the borders and featured the Skábmagovat FIlm Festival guest Indigenous filmmakers Darlene Naponse (Atikameksheng Anishnawbek First Nation), Princess Daazhraii Johnson (Neets'aii Gwich'in), and Elle Márjá Eira (Sápmi). Many talking points related to the funding of film-making, such as navigating treaties that concern financing cross-border collaboration and, as Eira noted, the necessity of funding for offsetting the challenges that come with filming in rural areas like those in Sápmi. Regarding the actual production of films, Naponse shared the perspective that it's crucial to find producers that truly care about cinema and the project at hand. She also expressed that it's important for Indigenous films to be viewed by larger audiences, similarly to the way that "mainstream" films are.