ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Two Norwegian filmmakers say their debut documentary, Anchorage Welcomes You, is meant to put viewers face-to-face with people living on Anchorage streets — not to prescribe a political fix, but to “describe the situation” and the human stakes behind a crisis visible across the city.

“I 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,” said director/cinematographer Peter Gupta. “But it’s also to show how people are … capable of taking a wrong turn in life and coming back from it.”

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.

Gupta, along with editor/screenwriter Rasmus Aarskog Sætersdal, said the project first grew out of Gupta’s canoe trip down the Yukon River, where he said he saw “communities ravaged by drugs and alcohol.”

“I canoed the whole length of the Yukon in 2017,” Gupta said. “And I saw what was going on in all the villages. And I wanted to go back and make a film at some point.”

Gupta said he met Anchorage resident Erinn Leann — a central figure in the film — at the end of that trip and told her then he planned to return to Alaska to make a documentary.

A title drawn from a sign — and the ‘duality’ beneath it

The film’s title comes from the weathered “Anchorage Welcomes You” sign seen by commuters entering the city — and, the filmmakers said, from what they described as the contrast between Anchorage’s image and the encampments they saw nearby.

“It was interesting when we were there the first year and we saw this Anchorage welcomes sign falling apart and a whole … camp growing up beneath it,” Sætersdal said. “And it was just this … you can say duality of presentation for the city.”

Gupta said the pair debated keeping the name, but after multiple test screenings they found Alaskans preferred the working title.

“We’ve had ambivalent feelings about the title of the film because it’s kind of tongue in cheek,” Gupta said. “We didn’t want to keep it at some point, but the people from Anchorage really wanted to keep it.”

Building trust — and setting rules

Much of the film unfolds in intimate, up-close moments that are hard to capture in traditional daily news reporting.

Sætersdal 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.

“I think it’s so important, that respect for whoever is participating, that’s a prerequisite for bringing them into the project,” he said.

Anchorage through outsiders’ eyes

Asked what makes homelessness in Anchorage distinct, Gupta said his travels shaped his perspective. Gupta described what he called “social fragmentation” and “hopelessness” — a situation he said can be more than just a lack of material resources.

“I’ve been around the world,” he said. “And the poverty in the United States is different.

“When you go to the United States, there’s a social fragmentation in a way that is quite unique. And I think there is a hopelessness and a different character to it … it’s not only a material problem. It is also a social problem.”

Sætersdal added Alaska’s identity as a frontier draws people seeking escape.

“Alaska still has this mythical place in imagination as the last frontier,” he said. “You see also people coming from all over the country … coming to Alaska in escapism of something. And then there’s nowhere else to go.”

‘Not to tell the people of Anchorage what to do’

Gupta and Sætersdal said they hope the documentary sparks conversations without presenting a single prescribed solution.

“What we’re trying to do with this film is not to tell the people of Anchorage what to do about homelessness,” Gupta said. “It’s about describing what’s happening and sparking a conversation.

“We hope that we can kind of make the homeless appear as resourceful and also capable of changing. But it’s not down to us what to do with it.”

Returning to Anchorage — and trying to bring the film home

Now, the two say the hope is to screen it in Alaska — and eventually get broader U.S. distribution. They said navigating distribution has been its own grind, but Sætersdal added that Alaska continues to pull at them creatively.

“Alaska really is a place that it sticks to you,” Sætersdal said. “You can’t unsee it once you’ve been there and you can’t like brush it off. It becomes a part of you.”

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