Bow wow wow, yippee yo, yippee yay (CREDIT: Tori Edvin Eliassen/Magnolia Pictures)

Starring: The Students and Teachers of Pasvik Folk High School, Plus a Bunch of Sled Dogs

Directors: Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady

Running Time: 106 Minutes

Rating: Unrated (But PG-Level)

Release Date: July 25, 2025 (IFC Center in New York City)/August 1, 2025 (Los Angeles and Other Cities)

What’s It About?: In the most unforgiving stretches of northern Norway there lies a learning institution known as Pasvik Folk High School. Some hardy teenagers choose to attend there for a year to get away from the routine of the modern world and learn how to survive in the wilderness, while also corralling some adorable sled dogs. Folktales tracks the journey of one class from their arrival through months of utter darkness all the way to the tearful goodbyes and reintegration back home, having changed. Through it all, their story is explicitly connected to the Norns, the goddesses of Norse mythology responsible for weaving the strings of human destiny.

What Made an Impression?: A Star is Born: Folktales focuses on three students in particular: the socially awkward Bjørn Tore; the Dutch Romain, who finds himself anxious and adrift; and Hege, who’s struggling after the recent untimely murder of her father. Their arcs are all pretty predictable – they’re just teenagers going through teenager stuff, even if they are in the wilderness! But Hege’s story is a little meatier than the others, as she takes to the school like a dog in the mush. I think the marketers recognized this as well. That is her on the poster after all, bonding with a howling husky.
A-Roooooooooo: Perhaps the most compelling scene in Folktales (or at least the most compelling to me as a canine connoisseur) is when the students meet the school dogs. Some of them are immediately friendly, others are a little more shy, but all of them are eager to please and run through the snow. I’m a little too old for high school now, but if I were still a teenager, these pups would be the way to convince me to spend months at the tip of Scandinavia.
Connecting to Infinity: After a quick opening segment introducing the Norns, directors Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady mostly settle into a fly-on-the-wall realism approach. But a few visual motifs hang around to maintain the Norse connection, particularly red strings crawling up trees and seemingly stretching everywhere and every when. It underscores the vibe that we’re all connected back to countless generations, a feeling that I’m sure is only amplified at Pasvik Folk.

Folktales is Recommended If You Like: Aurora Borealis, Bildungsromans, A Vicarious Braving of the Elements

Grade: 3 out of 5 Sled Dogs