Maria Gros Vatne lived wild and free. The Norwegian photographer and her family built a world for themselves on a little farm deep in the forest. They were very happy. But then she caught cervical cancer. Her English husband Nik and the kids, Ronja, Freja, Falk and Ulv, were suddenly jolted out of their magical existence. They were confronted with tough decisions. Could they afford to stay on the farm? Should the children, who had been taught at home, be sent away to school?
Silje Evensmo Jacobsen’s feature documentary A New Kind Of Wilderness, follows the family as they confront a bitter new reality. The film has its world premiere in Sundance this week in World Cinema Doc Comp. It was produced by Mari Bakke Riise, Jacobsen’s partner in production company A5. DR Sales is handling the international rights on the movie which was supported by the Norwegian Film Institute.
The family members will be accompanying the filmmakers on their trip to Sundance – and a new booklet has been produced in time for the festival featuring Vatne’s photos and stories. (There will also be an exhibition of her work when the film is released in Norway).
Back in 2014, Jacobsen was about to become a mother herself. She had stumbled on, and become enraptured by, Vatne’s blog.
“The way they [the family] reinvented their lives really captured me…I actually met them then. My idea was to make a series following them,” the director recalls. She pitched the idea to Norwegian broadcaster NRK who, at that stage, didn’t bite. She therefore moved on to other projects – but still stayed in touch with Vatne.
“But then I learned from her blog that she was sick. When she passed away, it really, really hit me hard.”
It was at this point that Jacobsen decided she “had to make something from her universe.” She had shot a pilot in 2014 but didn’t use any of that material. Instead, she began to chronicle the family as it coped with this seismic loss.
Much of the footage is very intimate.
“The reason Nik and the rest of the children said ‘yes’ was that they knew Maria wanted to make a film…basically I started filming without any funding. I just knew I needed to get this story now. I just spent time with them, being with them off the camera as well.”
The family was so used to “having Maria’s camera around” that they weren’t self-conscious about being filmed. Nonetheless, Jacobsen was capturing some delicate and raw moments. She was often there on her own, without other crew members, doing the shooting herself.
The landscapes look idyllic – and the weather is surprisingly benign. “I remember I was thinking I’ve filmed them so much and every time I filmed them it was sunny. But that was just a coincidence. We live in Norway and it rains and snows…and it was almost impossible not to film beautiful things because they were so natural in their environment. It was so green and there were the animals. It was so beautiful and lively…magical moments!”
Not that this was any kind of Utopia. Jacobsen deals with rising family tensions. Freja wants to start school but doesn’t want to disappoint her dad. Her older half-sister Ronja, who moved in with her own dad, is struggling with grief. She feels estranged from her siblings although she clearly adores them. The kids may seem extraordinarily well-adjusted and wise beyond their years but living in the wilds has its downside. Nik has to work out what is best for his children. He is tempted to return to his native England (he is from Chester) but the kids are very rooted in Norway.
“It was a really, really hard time for Nik. It was really a down period when I was filming him. I wanted us to see as well the children in nature and how they responded to it which was so beautiful. But I think you can see they also had a hard time getting through the loss, the changes and everything that happened to them. I hope people can see both sides.”
Jacobsen shot large amounts of material that didn’t make it into the final cut. She incorporated Vatne’s photography and eventually focused on the struggles of three main characters – Ronja, Nik and Freja.
The director has shown the film to the family on a laptop. “They found it emotional. The smallest children liked the funniest parts best but they are really excited to see it on the big screen [at Sundance] and see the response of the audience.”
Jacobsen and Riise founded A5 Film “a couple of years ago.” A New Kind Of Wilderness is their second feature – but the company has made several documentary series including 2022’s Kraft. Riise has several successful projects to her name as director including the awards winning Kayayo – The Living Shopping Baskets (2016). Both Jacobsen and Riise are “directors by heart” but work as producers on each other’s projects.
Jacobsen now has an intriguing new feature doc on the boil, one that is rooted in her own family’s experiences. Her children feature in it as “detectives” trying to work out the origins of a mysterious Christmas present they receive every year.
“My husband’s brother died when he was young and after he died, they got a present on their door [step] every year. Now it has been for 25 years, ” the director explains the origins of the project. It’s a true crime doc for kids but one that touches on subjects like bereavement, loss and vulnerability.
“We aim for deeply engaging films for the international audience,” Jacobsen sums up A5’s goals. She adds that the Sundance selection for New Kind Of Wilderness “is huge, such a breaker for us as a small company…we’re so excited.”
