Two Norwegian filmmakers are planning Alaska showings of their full-length documentary about homelessness in Anchorage.
The film, called “Anchorage Welcomes You,” weaves together narratives of several people currently or formerly living on Anchorage streets. It explores themes of drug use and recovery, housing insecurity, sexual assault, poverty and violence.
The film’s director, Peter Gupta, was surprised to see how pervasive drug use and related social problems are in Alaska.
"Over here, it's very concentrated, and it seems to have deep roots, so to speak," he said. "There are other social phenomena unfolding that make it a fruitful ground for drugs to proliferate, and it made me curious to come back and see why that is."
Gupta worked for years with screenwriter and editor Rasmus Sætersdal to produce the documentary.
Sætersdal said he wants Alaskans to understand the film was made because of an appreciation for Alaska and that Norway is connected to the state through history and mythology.
The filmmakers said they slowly and carefully built up trust to be able to embed in and document unhoused communities.
It was important to be clear about their intentions with the film’s subjects, Sætersdal said.
"'We're interested in you guys, and we really want to make a documentary. You are the best people to ask how to move about, who to talk to,'" he said. "We're very open about that. We wanted to learn how they moved in society and how society moved around them."
People in the film speak honestly about their struggles. In one part, a man living in a tent shares his story.
"Been living up on the streets ever since I was little," he says. "Started off in Palmer. Mom ran trap lines. Grew up living off subsistence. Learned to carry guns, skin animals, hunt and fish, then moved to town and changed everything."
"Anchorage Welcomes You” has shown in Anchorage and is set for screenings in Juneau, Homer and again in Anchorage over the next weeks, with Q&A sessions after each showing.
