‘Riehpovuotna – Repparfjorden’

‘Riehpovuotna – Repparfjorden’ Claire Baumgarth, with permission

After completing a master’s degree in engineering, Claire Baumgarth set out to make scientific and engineering concepts more accessible to the average person. The best way to do it? Through film.

Inspired by her time in Sweden and Norway during her engineering studies in 2024, Claire decided to dedicate her first solo filmmaking project to the Sami people and their fight against Canadian mining giant Blue Moon Metals. The short, animated documentary, Riehpovuotna – Repparfjorden, is a finalist for the 2026 MY HERO Sylvia Earle Ocean Conservation Award.

Currently at the end of her second year of film school, Claire now works part time in an animation studio on children’s films. “It’s really hard to find an animation studio that specializes in documentary films,” she told MY HERO, “It’s quite a niche, but I think animation and documentary go together very well.”

Claire Baumgarth, with permissionStory board for Riehpovuotna – Repparfjorden

Claire, having had a three-month deadline for the project, wasn’t able to travel to film the mines in Repparfjorden. She could, however, recreate the scenes with her art. “There are a lot of benefits to using animation; if you want to take on very difficult subjects, animation means you can avoid using graphic footage and make the film more accessible for a diverse audience,” Claire explained.

Claire Baumgarth, with permissionClaire Baumgarth

MY HERO had the pleasure of interviewing Claire about Riehpovuotna – Repparfjorden. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Why were you drawn to making this film?

As part of my engineering studies, I chose to go to Sweden and Norway for a year. There I was astonished by two things. First of all, I discovered the existence of the Sami people. It's important to know about them to protect their culture as well.

The second was when I went to Norway, I thought it would be a very eco-friendly country and that’s true in a way, but Norway is the 12th country in the world for oil production. It has 40% more waste than the rest of Europe. It has a huge seafood industry which is really harming the sea floor. Same for deep sea mining.

When you do mining, you have a lot of waste which needs to be treated because there's a lot of heavy metals and dangerous chemicals. But with submarine tailing disposal, the solution is just to dump it in the sea, which obviously is very harming for the environment and the water. I started to learn about this mining issue there, and I thought it was so interesting because it's a local issue, but it’s happening because of global need.

I wanted to make a film that links environmental and social issues and highlight that we need to act and solve these small local issues to give an example to how we need to solve more global ones as well.

What is the importance of this film and what are its strengths?

What I really tried to do is to give a voice to the activist in the film, Dom-Ante. He's a Sami and he's an activist in the name of the fjord where Blue Moon Metals, a Canadian mining company, is doing this mining for copper and then submarine tailing disposal in the fjord.

I really wanted to have a Sami activist talking in this movie, because I think we often have like a very technical view on how to solve ecological problems. When you look into it, indigenous people make up like 6% of the world population and yet they act for something like 80% of biodiversity resilience. It shows that these people that were often not listening to, they know how to deal with environmental issues, and they know how to take care of their lands.

What are the issues most important to you and why?

It's definitely ecology but in a very broad way. The focus of my studies has always been energy engineering and the environment. the most important issue is how we need to shift our mindsets towards a greener future.

We already have a lot of technical solutions, and for some reason, we're still trying to find more. “Do we need this?” is not even a question anymore. When I talk about ecology, it's thinking about what we really need. I don't think we need crazy new AI technologies. I don't think we need a city on Mars. What we need to focus on is more clean water, food, and strong biodiversity. We need to focus on using the environment to in a way that makes sense.

Who made this film possible?

I must mention Charlotte Arène. She's a professor of mine. She supervised and gave a lot of feedback, even when she was not supervising us students anymore. I must really thank her. I must also mention Dom-Ante, who took the time to give an interview to be used in the film.

The following people also helped me to make the film what it is:

Solène Skoczek (Singer, Musician and Sound designer working in Musical Field)

Max Rousselet (Musician and Sound Designer)

Emeline Mauriot (Narrator and Voice Actress)

Do you have a personal mentor or hero?

My big sister for me is an example of a hero. She's always caring about everyone. She's a nurse as well, which is an incredibly tough job. She’s a wonderful example of a person really trying to make things better with the tools that they have. Same for my grandparents. They are also important in my life and show me an ecological way of doing things. They’re very environmentally conscious people.

In terms of more well-known figures, Camille Etienne and Claire Nouvian are amazing women doing incredible activism. They’re both very inspiring to me.

How does it feel to be an official selection for the 2026 Sylvia Earle Ocean Conservation Award at MY HERO?

Sylvia Earle is a marine biologist that I already knew about, so it's an honor to be part of a festival which is recognized by such a scientist. It's so important to me that this film is being shown because of the issue that it talks about; it’s not very well known, but it’s a global issue.

On a more personal note, having my first film be recognized gives me a lot of energy to continue. You don't always know if things like this are going to work. You should always try because you never know if it's going to work or not. I didn't think this film would be selected for any festival, so I'm really happy.

Watch Riehpovuotna – Repparfjorden here.

About the Sylvia Earle Ocean Conservation Award

MacGillivray-Freeman Films Educational Foundation’s One World One Ocean Campaign sponsors the ‘Sylvia Earle Ocean Conservation Award’ annually at the MY HERO International Film Festival. One World One Ocean is a global non-profit campaign designed to connect people emotionally to the world's ocean. Their mission is to raise awareness of ocean degradation, to inspire audiences through cinematography and to spark a global movement to protect our seas.

Sylvia Earle is a world-renowned oceanographer, explorer, author, lecturer, leader, and research scientist who has led more than 70 expeditions, logging more than 6,500 hours underwater. Formally chief scientist of NOAA and now a National Geographic explorer-in-residence, she was awarded the 2009 TED Prize for her proposal to establish a global network of marine protected areas, called “hope spots.”

Said Greg MacGillivray, Chairman of MacGillivray Freeman Films, “Sylvia Earle is our ocean hero, and we hope this award inspires aspiring filmmakers to shine a spotlight on other dedicated people from all walks of life who are working tirelessly on behalf of our oceans."

Read more about the award, and its sponsors, here.

To see previous winners of the MY HERO Sylvia Earle Ocean Conservation Award, or enter for 2027, go to: myhero.com/sylvia-earle-ocean-conservation-award

About the MY HERO International Film Festival:

The My Hero Film Festival is an annual event dedicated to showcasing films that celebrate the power of the human spirit. Hosted by Eva Haller, a prominent philanthropist and advocate for social change, the festival provides a platform for filmmakers to share inspirational stories of everyday heroes. Thanks to generous sponsors, prizes are awarded to elementary, middle school, high school, college and professionals in a variety of categories including documentary, narrative, music video, animation, experimental, and more.

The festival aims to inspire audiences to recognize the heroism in their own lives and encourage positive actions in their communities. Learn more.