'Folktales' Directors Heidi Ewing And Rachel Grady On The Warmth Of Nature Through The Eyes Of The Young

The celebrated directing duo reflect on the positive vibes of their latest film...

Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady are a filmmaking team behind some of the most indelible documentaries of the past 20 years, including Jesus Camp and The Boys of Baraka. They co-own a production company called Loki Films, based in Brooklyn, New York. Their latest film, Folktales, released by Magnolia Films, continues their tradition of making thought-provoking documentary films. It is the story of teenagers in Arctic Norway who attend a Folk School, where they are taught valuable life lessons in nature as they navigate the path to adulthood. The film premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival, where it was warmly received as it is a heartfelt film with a potent yet simple message about youth reconnecting with nature and with animals, specifically dogs. Ewing and Grady recently spoke with Immersive via Zoom about the wonderful experience making this film.

[This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.]

Could you tell me a little bit about how you started this? Talk about how you came in contact with this group and the genesis of making it into a film.

Heidi Ewing: I was reading a book about dog sledding, and the author mentioned that she attended a Folk High School, which changed her life. That phrase, I'd never heard before. When I looked it up, I realized that there are 400 of them in Scandinavia. It's an extra year of high school to become an adult, to face your fears. The concept of doing an extra year of school just to build your character was fascinating.

In our films, we have returned many times over the years to the themes of growing up and what constitutes a formative experience. This seemed like a significant formative experience for the right students. I think many people are fascinated by Scandinavian ideas, and we were intrigued by how things work in those societies.

How did you find this specific school?

Heidi Ewing: We started digging, and along the way, we found Pasvik Folk High School. We met the teachers, and the dog sledding teachers sold us on the entire concept. We knew that even if the students were shy or we hadn't cast them yet, these teachers could anchor us because they'd been doing it for so many years. They told us stories about how this place can be life changing for those who enroll.

How did you get funding for this, and how did you go about making the project? Did you move there? How long were you there before you started shooting?

Rachel Grady: It was the most compressed timeline of any project we've ever done, which is ironic because production-wise it was the hardest. We went on a scouting trip. We found the school in March of 2023, and they gave us access. We started fundraising. We raised all the money fairly quickly, I think mostly based on our track record, that if nothing else we were going to deliver a movie.

School started, so we had to start in June, and then we had to edit right away because half of everything was in Norwegian so we needed to get it translated to understand what was going on. Therefore, we did the whole thing in less than two years. It was very compressed, and we would each take turns going about every six weeks. There was always someone there steadily filming. Our crew was all Norwegian. We were the only Americans working on this project; our crew all lived in Oslo. We premiered at Sundance in January of 2025.

Let's talk about the themes of the movie. This is something near and dear to my heart; we live in a detached society now that is very reliant on technology. This film exudes warmth, with nature, positivity, dogs, and a detox from the modern world. How much of a vibe was that going into this?

Heidi Ewing: I think that a lot of us believe that for a certain generation of people, nothing can compete with the scroll, and the endorphins that you get, and what it does to your brain. The natural world, the Arctic, the dogs, and sleeping outdoors were a real tough competitor for their phones. They were not told to put their phones away. There were no rules about phones at this school. It's not punitive in any way, but they just naturally were cued into it. You could literally go get two dogs, get your skis on, and be launched into the forest with the most powerful canine beasts on earth.

When you're presented with something that can compete with the scrolling, you take it. That's what we saw. It just happened naturally. Now, of course, when they re-enter the suburbs the scroll comes back but it can be broken. It's the simple thing. The natural world is awe-inspiring if you allow it to be. We were just hit on the head again with that. The reason the film feels so warm is that the characters are so tender, vulnerable, and candid that they break through your cynicism. There's not any cynicism in this film because we filmed no cynical people. Everybody had come looking for something, looking for an adventure, looking for wonder.

I found it very refreshing to watch a movie like this. In the indie film world, you end up watching a lot of dark stuff. How long did it take, and what were some techniques to get the kids to warm up to you? Or did it just take time?

Rachel Grady: It took time. They were changing so quickly. There are numerous group dynamics, obviously, in situations like this that we've dealt with before in an isolated school. Generation Z is its own beast, its own animal in how it interacts with the camera. This place is magic. It is quiet. There's no sound pollution, no light pollution. It's untouched. It resets your nervous system. There's real peace there.

I think that peacefulness seeped into the movie. The movie has a calming, comforting quality. I believe that the kids were benefiting from that. Over the nine months, we were still dealing with teenagers, but in the end, it was the location, these animals, and the teachers that made the film warm. Which is ironic, given that it's in ice, but there is something to it; you do feel immersed in something safe and quiet.

I love the tree at the end. How did you come across the tree, and how was that executed?

Heidi Ewing: We learned a lot about Norse mythology, and the people know it pretty well. Much of Norse mythology revolves around overcoming fears and acquiring knowledge. In November, we found the tree, and we'd never seen anything like it before. It was ancient and mystical. Norse mythology is grounded in the Tree of Life, and we began photographing it from various angles. We just kept returning to it because, cinematically, it was a layer of the movie that we could build around this tree.

The fates at the base of the tree weave the destinies of human beings. That's also in the mythology. We bought a ball of yarn and started messing around, then got our DP's out in the forest. We experimented with it throughout the year. For our final shoot we got a team of production designers from Oslo, and scaffolding - it took five days and the tree was wrapped. It was a beautiful symbol of like the end of a chapter of somebody's life. It's all complete and wrapped for now, and now you move on to the next trials and tribulations of your life.

What's it like being on the other side of this experience, and what do you hope people, especially young people, get out of watching this film?

Heidi Ewing: I don't think we've ever had more fun showing a film to an audience ever. It's different every time... people laugh, they cry, they clap. It feels like live theater. It's incredibly affirming to show this movie. So, what we think people are getting out of it so far is some hope for humanity and the future. The hope that maybe we've gotten a little bit wrong and we're not just all becoming robots, there's still a deep humanity inside of us, and the movie reminds us.

Rachel Grady: I don't think we've ever enjoyed showing something as many times as we have with this film. I'm eager to get in there and see people's reactions. Life is tough, but it feels especially heartbreaking nowadays. This is just a simple reminder that the cycle of life will continue. We can be good; we still have the capacity, we still have our hearts. When you're in the theater, it feels pretty damn good to be reminded.

Folktales is now playing in limited release. In conjunction with the theatrical release a contest has been launched. It is a chance to step into the wild at Wolf Connection - a sanctuary for wolves in Angeles National Forest.