For the Sami audience, Anna Åsdell has long been a familiar face.
She has been active at, among others, Giron Sámi Teáhter since 2008.
But for the large TV audience, she was a new name when she appeared as the mother in the Christmas calendar “Snödrömmar”.
“They happen to stop me”
Although she has a long career as an actor behind her, it is now for the first time that she gets to experience what it is like to be recognized in town.
Can you walk in peace in town in Skellefteå now?
– Well, it depends on what you mean by peace and which age category, she says and laughs.
She continues:
– Now that it is broadcast, it is special. It happens that they stop me. The younger viewers have some questions and such.
Watched with their children
But now it wasn’t to become a celebrity that she appeared in the calendar. She is very happy that a Southern Sami family, like her own, gets to take part in such a large TV production.
She has been looking at the calendar with her children. And she has seen how they gasp when they hear Southern Sami words in the program. And perhaps above all when the children in the Christmas calendar sing the same goodnight song that she used to sing to them.
– I have sung it to my children and to see their reaction when they heard it on TV. I think the immediate recognition is very strong, she says.
Mersmak for TV productions
After this experience, she has gained a taste for working with moving images as well. At the same time, she appreciates the direct response she receives from the audience on a theater stage.
– In the theater it is created in the moment with the audience. It will be like a new thing every time and a shared experience with the audience. It doesn’t happen when you film, she says.