Marja Bål Nango
The Tongues is directed and written by the sisters Marja Bål Nango and Ingir Bål. Both are Sami indigenous, living on the tundra in arctic Norway and working as reindeer herders, which is their heritage.
Marja Bål Nango(b. 1988) is a Sami director from Galgujávri, Norway. Her education stems from Nordland Art and Film School, Film & Television studies at Lillehammer University College and Film producing at Sámi University College.
Her graduate short film Før hun kom, etter han dro (2012) won the Ellen Monague Award at the imagineNATIVE in Toronto, and her last short film O.M.G - Oh máigon girl (2015) won the UR Award at Uppsala Film Festival and Skårungen Award at Tromsø International Film Festival.
Marja has participated in many international film festivals and is a member of the Sami International Film Institute. She is also a member of the board of the Northern Norway Film Center, a film funding center in Northern Norway.
She worked as reindeer co-ordinator and director's assistant on Sameblod (dir. Amanda Kernell, 2016). In 2018 she was chosen for the FilmLab Norway-program - NFI's and Talent Norges talent development program for female directors.