{"id":790159,"date":"2026-05-12T03:11:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T03:11:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/790159\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T03:11:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T03:11:14","slug":"norwegian-filmmakers-documentary-spotlights-homelessness-in-anchorage-aims-for-alaska-screening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/790159\/","title":{"rendered":"Norwegian filmmakers\u2019 documentary spotlights homelessness in Anchorage, aims for Alaska screening"},"content":{"rendered":"

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Two Norwegian filmmakers say their debut documentary, Anchorage Welcomes You<\/a>, is meant to put viewers face-to-face with people living on Anchorage streets \u2014 not to prescribe a political fix, but to \u201cdescribe the situation\u201d and the human stakes behind a crisis visible across the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the core story is to shine a light on the prevalence of the problem that is in Anchorage when it comes to drug abuse and homelessness,\u201d said director Peter Gupta. \u201cBut it\u2019s also to show how people are … capable of taking a wrong turn in life and coming back from it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The documentary was shot over multiple trips to Anchorage spanning roughly two years, beginning with a summer 2022 visit, followed by a winter 2024 return and a completion last fall.<\/p>\n

Gupta, along with editor\/cinematographer Rasmus Aarskog S\u00e6tersdal, said the project first grew out of Gupta\u2019s solo canoe trip down the Yukon River, where he said he saw \u201ccommunities ravaged by drugs and alcohol.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI canoed the whole length of the Yukon in 2017,\u201d Gupta said. \u201cAnd I saw what was going on in all the villages. And I wanted to go back and make a film at some point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gupta said he met Anchorage resident Erinn Leann \u2014 a central figure in the film \u2014 at the end of that trip and told her then he planned to return to Alaska to make a documentary. <\/p>\n

A title drawn from a sign \u2014 and the \u2018duality\u2019 beneath it<\/p>\n

The film\u2019s title comes from the weathered \u201cAnchorage Welcomes You\u201d sign seen by commuters entering the city \u2014 and, the filmmakers said, from what they described as the contrast between Anchorage\u2019s image and the encampments they saw nearby.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was interesting when we were there the first year and we saw this Anchorage welcomes sign falling apart and a whole \u2026 camp growing up beneath it,\u201d S\u00e6tersdal said. \u201cAnd it was just this \u2026 you can say duality of presentation for the city.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gupta said the pair debated keeping the name, but after multiple test screenings they found Alaskans preferred the working title.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had ambivalent feelings about the title of the film because it\u2019s kind of tongue in cheek,\u201d Gupta said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t want to keep it at some point, but the people from Anchorage really wanted to keep it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Building trust \u2014 and setting rules<\/p>\n

Much of the film unfolds in intimate, up-close moments that are hard to capture in traditional daily news reporting. <\/p>\n

S\u00e6tersdal said filming required clear rules and consent. He said the filmmakers spent time walking the same routes and meeting the same people repeatedly. Gupta added that trust was foundational.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s so important, that respect for whoever is participating, that\u2019s a prerequisite for bringing them into the project,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Anchorage through outsiders\u2019 eyes<\/p>\n

Asked what makes homelessness in Anchorage distinct, Gupta said his travels shaped his perspective. Gupta described what he called \u201csocial fragmentation\u201d and \u201chopelessness\u201d \u2014 a situation he said can be more than just a lack of material resources.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been around the world,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd the poverty in the United States is different.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you go to the United States, there\u2019s a social fragmentation in a way that is quite unique. And I think there is a hopelessness and a different character to it \u2026 it\u2019s not only a material problem. It is also a social problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

S\u00e6tersdal added Alaska\u2019s identity as a frontier draws people seeking escape.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlaska still has this mythical place in imagination as the last frontier,\u201d he said. \u201cYou see also people coming from all over the country \u2026 coming to Alaska in escapism of something. And then there\u2019s nowhere else to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Not to tell the people of Anchorage what to do\u2019<\/p>\n

Gupta and S\u00e6tersdal said they hope the documentary sparks conversations without presenting a single prescribed solution.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re trying to do with this film is not to tell the people of Anchorage what to do about homelessness,\u201d Gupta said. \u201cIt\u2019s about describing what\u2019s happening and sparking a conversation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope that we can kind of make the homeless appear as resourceful and also capable of changing. But it\u2019s not down to us what to do with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Returning to Anchorage \u2014 and trying to bring the film home<\/p>\n

Now, the two say the hope is to screen it in Alaska \u2014 and eventually get broader U.S. distribution. They said navigating distribution has been its own grind, but S\u00e6tersdal added that Alaska continues to pull at them creatively.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlaska really is a place that it sticks to you,\u201d S\u00e6tersdal said. \u201cYou can\u2019t unsee it once you\u2019ve been there and you can\u2019t like brush it off. It becomes a part of you.\u201d<\/p>\n

See a spelling or grammar error? Report it to web@ktuu.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 KTUU. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Two Norwegian filmmakers say their debut documentary, Anchorage Welcomes You, is meant to put…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":790160,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[28],"tags":[322757,322759,2526,322756,322758,280835,171,7265,67150,276736,53,322761,322760,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-790159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-alaska-homeless","tag-alaska-movie","tag-alaska-news","tag-anchorage-homeless","tag-anchorage-movie","tag-anchorage-news","tag-entertainment","tag-homelessness","tag-ktuu","tag-ktvf","tag-movies","tag-norway-movie","tag-norwegian-movie","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116559418886550077","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=790159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790159\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/790160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=790159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=790159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=790159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}