Sundance Film Festival 2024: A New Kind of Wilderness (World Cinema Documentary Competition) | Review
A Norwegian family living off the grid faces a heartbreaking and unprecedented dilemma in Silje Evensmo Jacobsen’s moving documentary A New Kind of Wilderness (Ukjent Landskap), presented at the Sundance Film Festival.
The idea for this bitterly beautiful portrait of a Norwegian-English family of six was born when director Silje Evensmo Jacobsen followed photographer Maria Gros Vatne‘s blog in 2014. Together with her family, the photographer would enjoy an independent life on a small farm in the Norwegian forest, pursuing their dreams of living close to nature, spending more time with their children (they were homeschooled), and being self-sufficient, aiming to be wild and free. When Maria first met her English husband Nik Payne, she immediately knew she had met someone who had the freedom of spirit to take the plunge with her. They bought a farm, cleared the forest, bought animals and regularly visited the forest to enjoy the beauty of nature with their four bilingual children: Ronja, Freja, Falk and Ulv. But their lives change radically when Maria dies of cervical cancer, forcing the family to face a harsh new reality: should they return to modern civilization or pursue Maria’s dream of living in harmony with nature?
The tragedy has divided the family. Ronja, the eldest, has moved back to the city to live with her father because she feels that without her mother, she won’t be able to be there, since she’s the only one who isn’t Nik’s biological child. In fact, Nick is an excellent father figure to his children. He’s caring, supportive and responsible in every way. For a few years, the Payne family lived on their farm until Nik decided to sell the house because he ran out of money. Nik felt that if he took the children to live with his family in England, it would be easier for him to work while home-schooling them. As the Paynes settle into a new (and smaller) home in a Norwegian town, they have to make their way in modern society.
The Payne’s story is heartbreakingly moving. In just 84 minutes, Evensmo Jacobsen, who also shot the film with colleagues Karine Fosser, Fred Arne Wergeland, Espen Gjermundrød, Line K Lyngstadaas and Natalja Safronova, and editors Kristian Tveit and Christoffer Heie present and order the stories in an effective blend of incredible intimacy and respectful distance between the protagonists. The cinematography itself is breathtaking, managing to capture the pain and grief with a touch of natural lightness in their journey that creates a gentleness where it beautifully coexists with harsh reality. When the Payne children finally go to school for the first time, a thought pops into Nik’s head: “Maria should have been here for this”. As life goes on, the children will find their own way, whether they blend in with modernity or continually follow their parents’ path, but we know that Nik hasn’t betrayed those he’s loved since day one.
A New Kind of Wilderness is a deeply felt, intimate documentary, full of empathy and enthusiasm, with generous characters who remind us that even if it shows us a world different from our own, it’s still relevant.
The film is produced by Mari Bakke Riise and Silje Evensmo Jacobsen herself for A5 Film. This is Evensmo Jacobsen’s second feature after Faith Can Move Mountains (2021). Denmark’s sales outlet Dr Sales (The Chocolate War) handles its world sales.
