The Norwegian Barents Secretariat has granted "Finnmark Flicker project On Air" 322 000 NOK to Guzenko Productions and NO SUN Film Festival by Rovaniemi Cinema. Guzenko Production is owned by Zhanna Guzenko, an independent cultural producer and curator based in Kirkenes. Finnmark Flicker aims to bring new cultural experiences to the High North with root in shared history from Finland and Sweden.

What: Experimental sound and moving images week
When: 11-16 May 2026
Where: Vadsø/Vardø, Norway

On Air in the High North

By creating meeting points here up North, Finnmark Flicker highlights the value of life in the North, Zhanna says.

This year, collaborators from the Umeå Film Festival presents a series of films about the lives of real people in small towns who maintain their inner strength, share memories of borders and loss, and find self-expression through music.

Marking 100 years since Amundsen’s airship stop in Vadsø, this year’s edition explores how signals and communication travel through the air – then and now. As part of the “On Air” programme, Karen Werner, a Norwegian-based artist and researcher in radio and performance, leads a workshop where participants build and experiment with their own broadcasting stations. Through this, participants explore new ways of sharing stories and connecting across places.

Support from the Barents Secretariat motivated me to invite more artists and partners from Northern Sweden and Finland.

– Zhanna Guzenko

Finnmark Flicker is meant to be an opportunity to meet, and for the artists to grow. It is a week for the audience to experience years of work brought to life!
Read the full programme here.

I want to show the treasure that is Finnmark

When I moved to Norway, I already had experience of building arts festivals from scratch and developed a strong international network of contacts in the field of arts and culture. There are single initiatives around experimental art in the North but there is no steady platform to meet and develop together, Zhanna explains. I want Finnmark Flicker to be a place for inspiration, self-reflection and emotion.

From Paris to Vadsø

One of the partners in the project is a Finnish film club, they inherited a 16mm analogue projector that had been collecting dust for years. Jointly the film choice fell on the legendary experimental film by Canadian artist Michael Snow. Now the film reel has been shipped directly from the avant-garde film foundation in Paris to Vadsø.

Through the project Zhanna met Ane Huru Thorseng an artist and filmmaker in Vadsø. Together they started a multilateral collaboration.

– It will be a planned film screening and performance with discussions from Vadsø Historielag and Vadsø Ungdomsråd. This is a good example of how art can activate and amplify the dialogue between the generations, she says.

Zhanna has one last piece of advice to people who are considering applying for support from the Norwegian Barents Secretariat: Before applying, make sure you have a shared understanding of the project idea with your partners. It is time-saving to be on the same page with your partners.

Do you have a project you want us to write about?
Contact us at Barents Secretariat at kommunikasjon@barents.no.