Elle Márjá Eira
- 1983
- Multidisciplinary artist
- Guovdageaidnu
Elle Márjá Eira is a director, artist, composer and producer. She grew up in Máze and Guovdageaidnu in Sápmi, Northern Norway. Her family is Sámi reindeerherders and belong to D-26 Lákkonjárga reindeer herding district. She is currently living in Guovdageaidnu.
Photo: Ánne Kátjá Gaup
Elle Márjá has written, directed and produced several short films (documentary and fiction) and music videos. She is one of the directors of the award-winning TV series POWER PLAY (NRK 2023) (two wins at Canneseries 2023, including Best Series). Elle Márjá is currently in development of the documentary KEVISELIE and has recently had premier with NRK TV-serie episode Makta, which she directed. Late 2023 she finished the post-production with her directorial feature debut STOLEN (a Netflix Original Production, due for release 2024). She has also worked extensively in VR, including premiering her VR 360 film EALLU (Reindeerherd) at Árran 360 - The Sami Pavilion at Venice Biennale 2022.
Ann-Helén Laestadius’ Acclaimed Novel Stolen becomes a Netflix feature film
Elle Márjá Eira is the director in Netflix Stolen feature film with premier in 2024.
«Storytelling is about finding your own voice and figuring out what you want to say in your heart.»
Photo: Ánne Kátjá Gaup
Since 2005 she has also been touring Internationally as an artist with her music. Eira has composed film score to all of her film projects and also to other films in collaboration with different composers. In collaboration with film composer Christoph Beck, she has made joiks for The 12th Man (2017) directed by Harald Zwart. She also collaborates musically with John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) and Lucy Parnell (daughter) in the band Snoweye.
PRIZES
2018 GramArt scholarship
2015 Arctic Talent Music prize, Varangerfestivalen
«When it comes to music, I love to improvise both in studio and on stage. My concerts never sound exactly the same.»
Photo: Mads Suhr Pettersen
«I often collaborate with my own family and involve them in most things.»
Reindeer husbandry, nature, joik and relationships are the core of Elle Márjá's art. It is important for her to look back at the Sámi history. Her passion for filmmaking goes all the way back to childhood, and her mother always used to have a film camera available at home. When Elle Márjá was only eight years old she grabbed the camera and started filming. She makes personal films and aims to capture the essence of a specific time in a particular life.
Photo: Ken Are Bongo
Photo: Rogr Hennum
For Elle Márjá, film and music go hand in hand. Through her music and films, she not only recognizes melancholy as an integral force but also highlights the northern Sámi language, joik, traditions, culture, and a strong vision of decolonization. For the past 15 years, Elle Márjá has made films about reindeer herding in various formats, including visuals at her own concerts, short films (fiction and documentary), VR 360 and feature film. Since she started directing films, she has moved more and more into the composition of film music. Joik has been the basis for most of what she has done, both the traditional, experimental and improvisation.
Elle Márjá Eira IMDb page
View Elle Márjás film and TV production biography at her IMDb page.