Magnolia Pictures Acquires Sundance Documentary ‘Folktales' About Arctic Norwegian Teens & Their Sled Dogs
EXCLUSIVE: Magnolia Pictures has acquired North American rights to Academy Award-nominated filmmakers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady's Folktales. A July 25 theatrical release is planned.
The acquisition puts the filmmaking duo behind the Oscar-nominated Jesus Camp back in business with Magnolia.
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The new documentary, which had its world premiere in January at the Sundance Film Festival, follows teenagers who converge at a traditional folk high school in Arctic Norway during a gap year where they must rely on only themselves, one another and a loyal pack of sled dogs as they all grow in unexpected directions. 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. Guided by patient teachers and a yard full of heroic Alaskan huskies, the teens discover their own potential and develop deep relationships with the land, animals and humans around them.
'Twenty years after the seminal Jesus Camp, we're ecstatic to welcome Heidi & Rachel back home, at the height of their powers, with this visually thrilling exploration of the transformative bond between humans, dogs, and nature,' said Magnolia Pictures co-CEOs Eamonn Bowles and Dori Begley.
'Every single frame of Folktales was designed with the big screen in mind. It's a movie best experienced with others, so having the rare opportunity to show it to the public the way it was truly intended to be seen is an absolute thrill for both of us,' said Ewing and Grady. 'Folktales is a film about growing up, a love letter to that sacred in-between time where the wild can teach us what it means to be human. We hope audiences feel the magic we discovered while shooting in this wondrously remote corner of the world.'
Folktales is co-produced by Kari Anne Moe and Gudmundur Gunnarsson. Executive producers are Lisa Schejola Akin, Jeffrey Akin, Maiken Baird, Michael Bloom, Christine Connor, Ian Darling, Ryan Heller, Kelsey Koenig, Mary Lisio, Jenny Raskin, Regina K. Scully and Ian Stratford. The doc is a Loki Films, Impact Partners, Topic Studios and Fifth Season production.
The deal was negotiated by Magnolia Pictures SVP Acquisitions John Von Thaden, with WME and Hayden Goldblat at FKKS on behalf of the filmmakers.
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