‘A NEW KIND OF WILDERNESS’ (Sundance 2024) Wading through grief with grace. Opening in NYC October 25th!!

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A NEW KIND OF WILDERNESS

A NEW KIND OF WILDERNESS

A life chronicled most intimately and authentically, the Payne family experiences physical and emotional upheaval after a family tragedy. Choosing to raise their family on a secluded farm in the woods of Norway, Maria and Nik wanted nothing more than to instill a love of nature into their children. Potentially forced to sell the beloved farm that holds all their memories, Nik, Freja, Falk, Ulv, and eldest daughter Ronja navigate unfathomable loss and fight to remain connected.

Through Maria’s striking photography, home videos, and extraordinary voiceover narration, throughout several years, filmmaker Silje Evensmo Jacobsen evokes visceral hope and sadness in A NEW KIND OF WILDERNESS. Exploring one family’s respect for the land, unique homeschooling, and off-grid lifestyle, Nik battles societal norms that Maria vowed to circumnavigate and financial limitations. The children are undeniably self-aware. Their openness with their emotions is breathtaking. When school thrusts technology upon them for the first time, they take to it like fish to water, much to the chagrin of Nik, but their wild essence never wanes as they long to hold onto their way of life. The film speaks to the resiliency of youth.

Witnessing the pure innocence and wonder of the Payne children hits you in the heart. It is easy to dismiss the genuine curiosity of your kids with the swirl of everyday chaos. Sundance 2024 audiences have the honor of joining together on an elegant meditation of grief and loneliness. A NEW KIND OF WILDERNESS reminds us to cherish each moment, the Earth, and one another.


A NEW KIND OF WILDERNESS Trailer:


 

Silje Evensmo Jacobsen, director of A New Kind of Wilderness

Silje Evensmo Jacobsen, director of A New Kind of Wilderness

Silje Evensmo Jacobsen has directed award-winning documentary films and series for the past 15 years. Among others: Team Ingebrigtsen (2016, 2018) about an unconventional Norwegian family raising their children to be top runners, Faith Can Move Mountains (2021) about nuns breaking boundaries in rural Norway, and KRAFT/SPARK (2022) about young street dancers. A New Kind of Wilderness is her second feature.

 

Credits

  • DIRECTOR(S)

    SILJE EVENSMO JACOBSEN

  • PRODUCER

    MARI BAKKE RIISE

  • EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

    KIM CHRISTIANSEN

  • CINEMATOGRAPHY

    SILJE EVENSMO JACOBSEN

    KARINE FOSSER

    LINE K. LYNGSTADAAS

  • EDITORS

    KRISTIAN TVEIT

    CHRISTOFFER HEIE

  • COMPOSER

    OLAV ØYEHAUG

  • SOUND DESIGNER

    YNGVE LEIDULV SÆTRE

  • COLORIST

    TOM CHR. LILLETVEDT

  • FEATURING

    ULV VATNE PAYNE

    FALK VATNE PAYNE

    FREJA VATNE PAYNE

    RONJA BREDA VATNE

    MARIA GROS VATNE

    NIKOLAUS ITHELL PAYNE

  • PRODUCTION COMPANY

    A5 FILM

  • YEAR

    2024

  • CATEGORY

    FEATURE

  • COUNTRY

    NORWAY

  • LANGUAGE

    ENGLISH, NORWEGIAN

  • RUN TIME

    84 MIN


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About Liz Whittemore

Liz grew up in northern Connecticut and was memorizing movie dialogue from Shirley Temple to A Nightmare on Elm Street at a very early age. She will watch just about any film all the way through (no matter how bad) just to prove a point. A loyal New Englander, a lover of Hollywood, and true inhabitant of The Big Apple.

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