Female Arctic

Project Spotlight: Collaborators on a participatory filmmaking project highlight the role of women in the Arctic.

Representation Activism Possible Futures
A digital illustration of a woman shown from the shoulders up, gazing towards the viewer. The illustration uses straight lines and flat colours, creating a fractured or facetted image.

The Murmansk region, and the Arctic in general, is known for mining and fishing industries, nuclear icebreakers and military towns. These spheres demand primarily male labor while many women experience difficulties finding well-paid jobs. Women are not very active on the local political arena, there is a lack of women in leadership positions and the history of the Arctic is also lacking female voices. At the same time, women actively create social support networks, develop new initiatives and creative spaces that make Arctic cities more viable and liveable.

A digital illustration of a woman shown from the shoulders up, gazing towards the viewer. The illustration uses straight lines and flat colours, creating a fractured or facetted image.
COURTESY PIKENE PÅ BROEN.

Female Arctic is a participatory filmmaking project where participants from the Murmansk region learn the basics of documentary filmmaking and team up with professional filmmakers to create a film about women in the Arctic. 

The Saint Petersburg venue of the Barents Spektakel features episodes from the film that will premier in Russia and Sweden later this year. In this discussion, curators and participants of the project share their experiences of co-creating the film. 

Alla Bolotova is the curator of Female Arctic, holds a PhD in sociology and is a research fellow at the Aalto University, Helsinki.

Galina Krasnoborova is a  film director, screenwriter, member of the Film Union of Russia, member of the Guild of Directors of the Russian Federation and the winner of Russian and international documentary film festivals.

Anna Karlsdóttir holds a PhD in Social Sciences and is a Senior Research Fellow at Nordregio.

The film’s co-authors are Irina Shirobokova, Nikolai Mikhailenko, Vera Pankratova, Maxim Mugatin, Lada Karitskaya, Ruslana Stegura  and Marina Tselikova.

Credit: This event was originally broadcast live on February 26, 2022 as part of Barents Spektakel. COURTESY PIKENE PÅ BROEN. 

This story is part of the Pikene på Broen Spotlight. View more content from the Spotlight here.