Still from Sáhtána Álbmot / Djevelens Folk / The Devils Kin (2024).

Nordnorsk Kunstmuseum presents a screening of the film The Hammer of Witches (Marin Håskjold, 2025) and an audiovisual performance with the film Sáhtána Álbmot / Djevelens Folk / The Devils Kin (Magnus Holmen and Viktor Bomstad, 2024). Curator Liv Brissach at NNKM will be in conversation with the artists after the performance and the screening.

Devil’s Kin/Sáhtána Álbmot/Djevelens Folk is a collaboration between artist and filmmaker Magnus Skei Holmen and joiker and musician Viktor Bomstad. The project takes the form of an audiovisual performance that explores historical notions of the Sámi as "the devil’s own people of the North."

"All evil comes from the North," wrote the cartographer and priest Olaus Magnus, filling his book A History of the Nordic Peoples with stories of people who, through sorcery and song, could summon devilish darkness and storms. In Historia Norwegiæ, published in 1555, travelers recounted how the Sámi, through witchcraft and gand (a form of Sámi magic), could cause grotesque deaths. Scholars claimed that demons and devils—bringing the cold of hell and violent winds—had their dwelling places in the North. The devil was said to reside in Sámi ritual drums and other objects, which were often confiscated and destroyed on sight.

The audiovisual material in Djevelens Folk is based on locations tied to Sámi oral traditions, as well as places that have played a key role in outsiders’ depictions of Sámi culture. The music is inspired by Dante Alighieri’s descriptions of hell, built upon a foundation of joik, electronic processing of voice, and instrumental experimentation.

By using historical demonization as a lens to explore distortions of Sámi traditions and ways of life, Bomstad and Holmen turn these old narratives upside down. In doing so, the work creates space for reflection on colonization and storytelling.

The project has been developed with support from Kulturrådet, Sámediggi/The Norwegian Sámi parliament and Scene Nord.

Heksehammeren / The Hammer of Witches (Norway, 15 min, 2025) is a short film by Marin Håskjold.

A group of women are facing charges for witchery, and if sentenced, face execution. In their hunt for scapegoats the prosecuting authorities go beyond questioning – applying tests and torture methods to get the confessions needed to progress to trials. The accused know they won’t escape this alive, but can they somehow preserve their reputation?

Language: Swedish, Norwegian, Danish

Subtitles: English

Actors: Lærke Grøntved, Josephine Kylén-Collins, Niklas Gundersn, Mariken Halle, Selome Emnetu, Helene Bergsholm, Tuva Banne Johansen, Othelia Engelstad, Gro Tordal Johansen, Ingrid Eielsen Halle, Christa Barlinn Korvald, Kristoffer Lundin, Harald Breievne, Desiree Vaksdal, Ivar Furre

Age limit: 15 years