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.
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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
DIG! XX
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