What happens when you mix reindeer herders, family secrets, and a 3,000-person wedding that needs to be planned in a month?
You get A Sami Wedding, the new Norwegian dramedy series from Åse Kathrin. In an exclusive first trailer (see below), indigenous Sami traditions, modern-day expectations, and a healthy dose of familial dysfunction combine for hilariously chaotic results.
Garen (Sara Margrethe Oskal) is stuck in a loveless marriage and sits at the bottom of her Sámi community’s hierarchy. She sees her son’s upcoming wedding — to a member of the town’s powerful reindeer herding family — as a chance to lift her status. But can she unite her dysfunctional siblings to plan the perfect traditional Sámi celebration, or will it just be a countdown to disaster?
Billed as a combination of TV hit Shameless with the charm and specificity of My Big Fat Greek Wedding, the series promises a generous helping of humour, chaos, and cultural insight.
A Sami Wedding had its market premiere at the Berlinale Series Market Selects in February, screening as part of the Indigenous Cinema Alliance’s 10th-anniversary celebration at the festival. The series trailer was first unveiled at the Tromsø International Film Festival industry section in January, and it was also showcased at the Göteborg Film Industry Market.
Produced by Tordenfilm, Mer Film, and Forest People for Norwegian public broadcaster NRK, A Sami Wedding will have its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, in the festival’s Primetime section for TV series, on Monday, Sept. 8. It marks a return to TIFF for lead Oskal, who presented her feature directorial debut, The Tundra Within Me in Toronto in 2023. Reinvent International Sales is handling world sales.
Watch A Sami Wedding trailer below.