Event
Folktales
“Landscape, ancient and punishing; this rarefied air, 200 miles above the Arctic Circle; these young people, on the precipice of adulthood, learning the value of self-reliance and kindness – it all begs for the kind of soulful treatment Folktales delivers.” – Austin Chronicle
“Dog lovers shouldn’t miss this one. Honestly, no one should.” – RogerEbert.com
“With formal polish and deep compassion, it proves to be the most heartwarming film of this year’s Sundance Film Festival.” – The Daily Beast
In Oscar®-nominated filmmakers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady’s life-affirming documentary, teenagers converge at a traditional folk high school in Arctic Norway where they must rely on only themselves, one another, and a loyal pack of sled dogs as they all grow in unexpected directions. In Norse mythology, the three “Norns” are powerful deities who weave the threads of fate and shape humans’ futures. Today, Pasvik Folk High School in northern Norway aims to produce a similar life-changing effect on its students. FOLKTALES tells the timely and heartwarming story of teenagers who choose to spend an unconventional “gap year” learning to dog sled and survive the Arctic wilderness, in hopes of finding connection and meaning in the modern world. Guided by patient teachers and a yard full of heroic Alaskan huskies, they discover their own potential and develop deep relationships with the land, animals and humans around them. Through intimate verité storytelling and exhilarating cinematography, Ewing and Grady examine humans on the cusp of adulthood, finding themselves at the edge of the world.
