Tag: Northern Lights

Folktales Review: Finding Courage in the Norwegian North

Hege, Bjørn, and Romain face grief, isolation, and uncertainty in Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady’s Folktales, a documentary that trades trolls for emotional trials and the supernatural for self-discovery. With some people heading back to school, they may want to be aware other programs exist to help them deal with post-secondary.

Folktales Movie Poster DocumentaryIn Norway’s far north, where winters stretch long and the aurora paints the sky, a group of young adults sets out on a modern hero’s journey. Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady’s documentary Folktales doesn’t follow Vikings clashing with trolls or giants. Instead, its battles are quieter yet no less daunting: grief, fear, and the uncertainty of growing up. Unlike the heroes of the Eddas, these youths don’t all stride forward with courage, but they still answer the call. The film follows three 19-year-olds each weighed down by their own struggles.

Hege spends her nights partying, still drifting after losing her father many years ago. Bjørn shrinks from new friendships, convinced he is an outcast. Romain has withdrawn even further: he dropped out of school and hides from the world in fear. None of them knows what future to pursue, but all crave change. That chance comes through the Pasvik Program (Pasvik Folkehøgskole), a modern version of Norway’s folk schools. First established in the 1840s to bring education to rural areas, these schools were never about diplomas. They offered reflection, skill-building, and community. In Finnmark, this offering continues that tradition by inviting young people to take part voluntarily in an immersive experience—one that tests them both physically and emotionally.

Continue reading “Folktales Review: Finding Courage in the Norwegian North”

Piercing Cameron Beyl’s The Veil and Forbidden Mysteries Answered–An Interview

Many people have said The Veil is like a lost episode of the Twilight Zone, and they’re right! The themes explored and just cinematography just nails what made this series special, and we can expect more from Cameron Beyl.

Cameron Beyl HeadshotSome movies like Cameron Beyl’s The Veil need to be savoured, and while the wait for it to arrive on home video/streaming felt long, that’s because to find the right window to release it meant waiting for a certain time of the year to arrive. People believe that the curtain separating the world of the living from the dead is at its thinnest during Halloween. Readers can check out my original review here.

As an enthusiast who has studied the behaviours of spirits through reading other case reports and participating in client-based (not the holiday style) paranormal investigations, everything told in fiction felt spot on. But in order to understand everything that went on in this film, the opportunity to interview this filmmaker to learn about his thought process made this movie what it is:

For readers unfamiliar with your work, can you please introduce yourself?

I’ve been making films, using the DIY approach, ever since I was eleven, and went to Emerson College to get a formal education. I made my feature debut with So Long, Lonesome (2009), and a couple of years later, made Here Build Your Homes. During that time, I made other short films, did commissioned jobs and also worked on documentaries. My “The Director Series,” is well known [it delved into examining notable talents like Stanley Kubrick, David Fincher and Paul Thomas Anderson -ed], and after that The Veil. Continue reading “Piercing Cameron Beyl’s The Veil and Forbidden Mysteries Answered–An Interview”