Folktales

In the north of Norway, inside the Arctic Circle, there is a folk high school. At these schools there are no examinations, no marks and no diploma; the students stay a year and take classes in crafts, in nature and in living together. The documentary follows three young people who come there. Each arrives with something: one has lost their mother, one could not leave the house because of anxiety, one does not know what to do. At the school each is given a team of dogs and they learn to drive a sled. The winter is long and dark. Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady direct. The documentary dates from 2025. It was shown at Sundance. The directors' method is observational; the crew stayed at the school for a year and the narrative follows without intervening. What the documentary is interested in is anxiety among the young; the narrative shows it not through diagnosis but through daily occupation. The relationship with the dogs is at the centre and is its most concrete side; responsibility is given not as an abstract idea but as work. The polar night and the snow carry its visual side. The ending offers no settled transformation; after a year each of the three still carries their own matter. Its limit is structure; the narrative is loose and some sections run long. Who it is for: viewers who like observational documentary and narratives about young people. Who it is not for: little happens, the pace is slow, and the narrative reaches no conclusion.