Dazzling contrasts between snowy, horizonless expanses and the lush, seasonal vegetation of the tundra form the backdrop to this unusual film, which focuses on the nomadic Nenets people of Siberia. Director and screenwriter Anastasia Lapsui, a native Nenets, weaves legends together with her own experiences to create stories that describe the life of her people in seven “songs.” The first and last are documents of the ritual sacrifice of a reindeer and a woman singing to her child, while the five central vignettes include dramatic depictions of the harsh effects Soviet communism had on the group’s age-old social order. The world’s first feature film in the Nenets language, Seven Songs from the Tundra was produced almost entirely by ordinary Nenets people—teachers, hunters, and fishermen—who shared the desire to bring their stories to life.