A recommendation: Folktales doc about a Norwegian school

“The dogs teach us to be more human. Maybe more patient.” Did you know that Norway has over 80 folk high schools scattered throughout the country - mainly in the North. These unconventional schools are for young adults who want to learn about more than math and science - it’s a place where they teach survival skills, living outdoors, and even how to care for and travel with sled dogs in the snow. Folktales is an incredible, life-changing, beautiful documentary film about one of these schools. It’s co-directed by two award-winning filmmakers Heidi Ewing & Rachel Grady (best known for Jesus Camp, 12th & Delaware, Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You, One of Us) and is now playing in theaters. It first premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival in January earlier in the year - where I first caught it at its world premiere. It was an unforgettable, emotional, exhilarating experience to watch the world premiere of Folktales. I’ve been waiting to rave about it and write this recommendation ever since, and now that it’s finally playing I want to bring more attention to this film (Opens in a new window). Folktales is a film about humans but it’s also a film about dogs. At this particular school, they keep a large amount of sled dogs and the students are assigned one dog they must take care of. So the film features an exceptional amount of footage of the dogs, focused on the dogs, and on the students trying to get to know and work with the dogs. And they are the CUTEST pooches! All of them are so adorable. They’re also hard-working, tough, rambunctious doggos - they sleep outside and they LOVE to pull sleds. This beautiful doc film is a life-affirming adventure following a number of young students as they learn to grow up and realize there’s a whole world out there they don’t know about. One of them doesn’t know how to start a fire, but he must learn the hard way when they go out to sleep outside in the freezing cold one night. Other students realize their lives in the cities aren’t really what they want - and they learn to focus on other jobs in the outdoors. I can easily talk about this film for hours & hours.

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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. Folktales is made by the two talented American filmmakers Heidi Ewing & Rachel Grady, who have been making extraordinary doc films for decades already. It ended up being listed as my #1 film (Opens in a new window) at Sundance 2025, and I want everyone to watch it. Especially kids! It’s such a moving, eye-opening, soul-stirring film that you must experience by giving it your full attention, getting lost in the experience. With most docs the cinematography isn’t unique, but in here every single shot is mesmerizing and magical. From snow falling onto the noses of dogs, to clever angles as the students attend classes, and breathtaking journeys into the snowy wilderness. There’s also a handful of unforgettable dog POV shots where they strap a GoPro camera to the sled dogs as they’re out training on trails. I couldn’t stop smiling the entire film. I want to know every dog by name. I want to cuddle with them, too. I wrote in my glowing review (Opens in a new window) from Sundance: “Folktales is an instant all-time favorite doc. Another doggie doc masterpiece. Another film that I think can and will change lives. As it should. Now it's time for it to emerge from Sundance and make its mark upon the whole world.”

For more info on Folktales and how/where to watch the film, visit the official site (Opens in a new window).