{"id":343555,"date":"2025-12-12T03:12:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T03:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/343555\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T03:12:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T03:12:08","slug":"prison-film-doc-walls-is-third-greenland-submission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/343555\/","title":{"rendered":"Prison Film Doc ‘Walls’ Is Third Greenland Submission"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tYou may know Greenland mostly from U.S. President Trump\u2019s goal of taking control<\/a> of the island, which is an\u00a0autonomous territory of the\u00a0Kingdom of Denmark. But the world\u2019s largest island also has its own stories to tell, and some are not just local but universal. <\/p>\n

\n\tCase in point: the documentary Walls \u2013 Akinni Inuk. Two strong Greenlandic women are united by traumatic pasts and a chaotic present, even though one lives behind bars, while the other keeps her vulnerability behind a cool facade. The doc takes viewers not only closer to them, but inside their hearts and minds. A synopsis of the film promises \u201ca moving journey for justice, freedom, and a second chance at life.\u201d Colonialism\u2019s lasting chokehold also plays a key role. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe \u201cakinni inuk\u201d part of the title also hints at the fact that there is more at play here than first meets the eye. After all, the phrase translates to \u201cthe human being in front of me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWalls, from directors Sofie R\u00f8rdam and Nina Paninnguaq Skydsbjerg, the latter being the woman in the film who does not live behind bars, and producer Emile Hertling P\u00e9ronard via his \u00c1nor\u00e2k Film, is also unusual in another way. It is Greenland\u2019s submission for the 2026 Oscars best international feature<\/a> film category, marking only the third film that Greenland has ever sent to the Academy Awards after Torben Bech and\u00a0Otto Rosing\u2019s 2010 drama Nuummioq<\/a> and Mike Magidson\u2019s 2012 film Inuk.<\/p>\n

The film came together in an eight-year journey that Danish creative R\u00f8rdam and Greenlandic filmmaker Skydsbjerg embarked on. It starts off with autobiographical footage filmed by inmates of a prison in Greenland\u2019s capital and largest city, Nuuk, before evolving into a portrait of Ruth, who has spent 12 years in indefinite detention and is trapped in legal limbo between Greenland and Denmark, and her evolving friendship with filmmaker Nina.<\/p>\n

\n\tTHR talked to R\u00f8rdam and Skydsbjerg, who made her feature directorial debut with Walls, about the film and its long journey.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe two started by letting inmates film themselves to tell their stories. But one day, officials decided that inmates\u2019 use of cameras was a security risk. That forced the creative team to figure out if and how to proceed. \u201cWe felt we had a lot of footage, but no clear story,\u201d R\u00f8rdam tells THR. \u201cWe also felt there was an untold story about Ruth, Ruth\u2019s case, and how she was in between the Danish and the Greenlandic system and just seemed stuck.\u201d The filmmaker also got access to all her case files that are in Danish, the legal language of Greenland, which saw her collaboration with Skydsbjerg pay off some more.<\/p>\n

\n\tSkydsbjerg loved how her Danish co-director, who has also done a lot of humanitarian work, approached her about teaming up for the doc. \u201cI was quite tired of other people telling our stories,\u201d she recalls, telling THR: \u201cWhat Sofie wrote to me in her email made me really proud of where I was born and the culture I\u2019m living in. She was talking about Greenlandic people as visionary regarding how we treat inmates and was interested in how the correctional facility actually works, with more of a focus on rehabilitation and resocialization. It was very important to her to always keep the human in the center, so it felt like a different project just from reading how heartfelt and warm her approach was, and also how curious she was. I really liked her humanistic approach.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the end, Skydsbjerg made herself vulnerable in the process of diving deeper into Ruth\u2019s story to the point where the filmmaker became a key part of the story unfolding on-screen herself. \u201cI ended up [wearing] two hats. Yes, I\u2019m one of the directors, but I\u2019m also in it,\u201d sharing her own traumatic past and working to move beyond it, she highlights. \u201cBut I am not a \u2018character.\u2019 When we were in post-production, we were talking about \u2018the character Nina.\u2019 But I was like, \u2018I can\u2019t distance myself from the film\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\u2018Walls \u2013 Akinni Inuk\u2019 <\/p>\n

\n\tOr, as R\u00f8rdam describes it: \u201cNina started to give more and more of herself when sitting in front of Ruth, someone whom she really mirrored. And slowly, you could see something else was happening and developing. And there was a point where I realized that this was the film. I probably knew it much earlier than Nina.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSkydsbjerg emphasizes that \u201cit was never a conscious decision to jump in front of the camera and a plan to be in the film.\u201d It simply developed that way in an organic way. \u201cAt some point, Ruth and I became close,\u201d she recalls. \u201cAnd whenever she would tell me basically everything, as you do with your friends when you share something from your own life, it felt wrong just to say \u2018tell me everything in [traditional] interview style.\u2019 It became more like a documented conversation between two people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRuth\u2019s attitude also made that the natural way. \u201cShe would tell me something and then ask about me,\u201d the filmmaker recalls. \u201cShe was inviting me into the conversation, and she was very curious about me. Sometimes I even felt like she was seeing through me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWalls became a film about two women, their traumas, and big themes of life and connection. \u201cWe made a film about freedom from, very literally, a prison. But it\u2019s also about freedom more generally, freedom from a colonial system. Freedom can have many forms,\u201d R\u00f8rdam explains, adding that she found the Greenlandic system less progressive than hoped when she experienced it up close. \u201cIt\u2019s a universal story told through a person\u2019s lived life, but it\u2019s also really a story about the healing powers of friendship.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn line with that, the visual and broader storytelling approach stays away from all those true-crime tropes audiences are familiar with. \u201cIt was a very conscious choice not to make a typical prison film where you make use of all the elements, such as scary music and, \u2018oh, we have a murderer,’\u201d she highlights. \u201cIt\u2019s just about human beings.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSkydsbjerg\u2019s lauds her co-director, saying: \u201cI felt I couldn\u2019t edit myself. I wanted to take out so many of the scenes that are actually in the film. You don\u2019t want people to see you like that, but at the same time, it\u2019s the most authentic [portrayal]. So, Sofie did a great job. And in a way, the experience also changed my vanity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSkydsbjerg\u2019s experience on Walls even \u201ctotally changed my whole point of view on what we ask people to do in front of a camera, especially in documentaries, and how insanely difficult it is to talk about something that hurts you,\u201d she shares with THR. \u201cMost often, we focus on trauma in documentaries. I have huge respect, not only for Ruth, but for everyone who ever went in front of a camera.\u201d That said, \u201cwith Ruth, we were leaning against each other so many times, and we totally forgot there was a camera. I didn\u2019t feel vulnerable or even slightly uncomfortable until we went into post-production, when the story turned that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRuth and her remain more than friends. \u201cShe\u2019s family,\u201d Skydsbjerg tells THR. And she hopes the film\u2019s submission to the Oscars<\/a> will get Greenland, its people, and their stories some much-deserved attention beyond headlines about U.S. and Danish politicians arguing about it. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cFor my people to be recognized is great,\u201d she concludes. \u201cWhat is even more important for me is that the young people and kids in Greenland will see this and see someone like Ruth and me rise to something like that. I hope it will bring light and hope, also for the rest of the world. Yeah, it\u2019s a huge honor, and it\u2019s difficult to find the right words. But it\u2019s also so much bigger than that. Even small countries can have big dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tCheck out more international<\/a> Oscar contenders here:
Akinola Davies Jr. Confronts Family Legacy in U.K. Oscar Hopeful \u2018My Father\u2019s Shadow\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tCroatia\u2019s Oscar Contender \u2018Fiume o morte!\u2019 Dives Into History for a Timely Study of Populist Autocracy<\/a>
Italy\u2019s Oscar Contender \u2018Familia\u2019 Takes a Genre-Bending Deep Dive Into Trauma and Abuse<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tA Heartbreaking Memory Lapse Drives Slovakia\u2019s Oscar Pick \u2018Father\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tIn Estonia\u2019s Oscar Submission \u2018Rolling Papers,\u2019 Young People Face Existential Questions<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tEgypt\u2019s Oscar Hopeful \u2018Happy Birthday\u2019 Follows an 8-Year-Old Maid Who Is a Class Act in a World of Classism<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tTarik Saleh Closes His Cairo Trilogy With a Warning About the Post-Truth Age in Sweden\u2019s Oscar Hopeful \u2018Eagles of the Republic\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tWhy Lithuanian Oscar Contender \u2018The Southern Chronicles\u2019 Looks Like a Film From the 1990s<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"You may know Greenland mostly from U.S. President Trump\u2019s goal of taking control of the island, which is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":343556,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[62404,88,2091,206,29506,85403],"class_list":["post-343555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-academy-of-motion-picture-arts-and-sciences","tag-entertainment","tag-international","tag-movies","tag-oscars","tag-oscars-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343555\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/343556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}