Anastasia Lapsui

{{Short description|Nenets film director, screenwriter and radio journalist}}{{Infobox person

| name = Anastasia Lapsui

| image = Anastasia Lapsui.jpg

| caption = Anastasia Lapsui in 2009

| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1944}}

| birth_place = Nida, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug

| alma_mater = Ural State University

| occupation = film director, screenwriter, and radio journalist

| spouse = Markku Lehmuskallio

}}

Anastasia Lapsui (born 1944) is a Soviet-born Nenets film director, screenwriter, and radio journalist who has lived in Finland since 1993. Lapsui, together with Markku Lehmuskallio, directed "Seven Songs from the Tundra," the first narrative film in the Nenets language.{{cite news |date= 28 September 2018 |title= Kahden kulttuurin elokuvia|trans-title= Two-culture films |url= https://digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi/sanomalehti/binding/1824508?page=33 |page= 33 |issue= 263 |language= fi |work= Ilkka |access-date=1 September 2020}} Lapsui has won numerous honors, including the Jussi Award for Best Film, and the Grand Prize at the Créteil International Women's Film Festival.

Biography

Anastasia Lapsui was born to a nomadic family in Nida, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, northwest of Siberia, in 1944. She graduated from Ural State University in Sverdlovsk Oblast. Early in her career, she was a radio reporter in the city of Salekhard, and also wrote screenplays. Together with her spouse, Markku Lehmuskallio, they have directed more than 10 films about the Nenets, the Sami, and other indigenous peoples from around the world.{{cite web |title=A tribute to Anastasia Lapsui and Markku Lehmuskallio - La Cinémathèque québécoise |url=https://www.cinematheque.qc.ca/en/cinematheque/news/tribute-anastasia-lapsui-and-markku-lehmuskallio |website=www.cinematheque.qc.ca |access-date=5 August 2019}}{{cite web |author= Moring, Kirsikka |title=Katoavan tundran elämää tallentava Markku Lehmuskallio, 80, on nähnyt, mitä tapahtuu, kun hänen elokuviaan esitetään nenetseille – "Jopa porokoirat haukahtelevat riemusta" |url=https://www.hs.fi/kulttuuri/art-2000005949117.html |publisher=Helsingin Sanomat |date=31 December 2019 |access-date=31 August 2020 |language=fi}} Of the movie Matkalla (On the Way), completed in 2007, Lapsui says:—

"This movie has a special meaning to me. In it, I present my own view of the Nenets religion and the afterlife."Anneli Ahonen, Oman kansansa tiennäyttäjä. Helsingin Sanomat, 25.7.2007, p. C6.

Awards

2000, Best Film (Nordic), Amanda Award
2000, Grand Prize, Créteil International Women's Film Festival
2001, Best Film, Jussi Awards
2005, Best International Feature, Birds Eye View Award
2009, Suomi-palkinto (Finland Award)
2014, Taiteilijaeläke (Artist pension){{cite news |title=He saivat taiteilijaeläkkeet - katso lista! |url=https://www.is.fi/viihde/art-2000000775707.html |access-date=5 August 2019 |work=Ilta-Sanomat |date=30 June 2014 |language=fi}}

Filmography

1993, Poron hahmossa pitkin taivaankaarta (editing, music, narrator, recording)
1994, Kadotettu paratiisi (planning, Nenets / Finnish translations, editing, recording)
1995, Jäähyväisten kronikka (editing)
1997, Anna (directing, manuscript)
1998, The Sacrifice: A Film About a Forest (directing, planning, recording, editing)
1999, Seven Songs from the Tundra (directing, costume, cut, staging, manuscript)
2001, Shepherd (directing, manuscript)
2002, Mothers of Life (directing, editing, voice, songs)
2003, A Bride of the Seventh Heaven (directing, costume, manuscript)
2004, Fata Morgana (directing, editing, recording, manuscript)
2006, The Sami (guidance, editing)
2007, Matkalla (directing, screenplay, actor)
2007, Nedarma - Travelling (directing, screenplay)
2009, Earth Evocation
2010, Pudana Last of the Line
2012, 11 Images of a Human
2015, ''Tsamo
2017, Pyhä (credited as Anastasia Lapsuy)