Amanda Kernell (in Swedish ɕæˈɳɛlː/;[1] born 9 September 1986) is a Swedish, Southern Sami director and screenwriter. She is best known for the movie Sami Blood, which won several awards.
Amanda Kernell was born on 9 September 1986 in Umeå.[2] Her mother is Swedish, but through her father, she developed roots in Sami culture.[3] Kernell experienced two very different cultures growing up with divorced parents with her mother being Swedish and her father being Sami. Her grandparents were nomadic reindeer herding families and only spoke Sami. They were only assimilated into the Swedish society once they went to residential schools in Sweden.
In her early teens, she devoted herself to acting and directing within the municipal theater.[3] In the years 2009–2013, Kernell attended and graduated from the National Film School of Denmark in Copenhagen.[4]
Kernell studied writing for the stage and audio visual media at Biskops-Arno, where she also completed the Filpool Nord course "Screenwriting for low-budget feature films". Beginning in 2009, Kernell attended the National Film school of Denmark, being one of the six students they bring in every two years.
Kernell worked as a film educator in Västerbotten County.
In 2004 Amanda Kernell played the role of Lovisa in the short film Maison, directed by Ann Holmgren.[5] The story was about a daughter who was trying to connect with her closed off mother. Amanda Kernell's filmographic career began in 2006 when she started directing shorts for the production company The Director & Fabrikorn, including The Holiday Sister, best short at the 2009 BUFF Children and Young Adult Film Festival and To Share Everything which received the 1 km Film Award.[6]
Her directorial debut film was the short film Our Disco (Våra discon).
Her short film Northern Great Mountain (Stoerre Vaerie), premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, and was later incorporated into her feature film debut Sami Blood, which premiered at the 2016 Venice International Film Festival.
Charter is her second feature film. Kernell is scriptwriter for most of her films.
Kernell states that "In my films, I always deal with topics such as forgiveness, responsibility, and betrayal."[7] She tends to use close up shots and put a lot of the emphasis of the story on the actors. She prefers a "minimalistic form when shooting films, with camerawork that gets up close to characters and avoid overloading the movie with the decor or setting." Kernell believes that by doing this she will help the audience feel less lonely. Kernell loves to delve into the histories of her stories and incorporate how past events have their effects on society today. In Sami Blood she cast family members as extras because she believes it important that filmmakers tell their own stories.
Kernell makes a point of representing her fear through the story of Charter. She explored the experience of what it would be like to be a single mother of divorce and fighting for custody over a child.
For Sami Blood:
For Charter:
Other awards and recognition:
Kernell was living in Copenhagen, where, in addition to film-making, she also teaches film directing.