The interactive documentary “A New Kind of Wilderness” has generated quite the splash in the film industry. It has received praise at acclaimed festivals such as Sundance and others across the world. The film documents the family’s untamed upbringing of their children—Freja, Ulv (who is called Wolfie) and Falk. They are committed to living a life that is more in harmony with nature, that is freer and more self-sufficient. Silje Jacobsen has directed a hauntingly impactful film that recounts Maria Payne’s courageous journey through cancer. Her unexpected death leaves an empty spot in her family’s life, conversations, memories.
Set against the picturesque backdrop of rural Norway, the film captures the essence of the Payne family’s life on a smallholding where they have chosen to live close to nature. Nik Payne and his Norwegian artist wife, Maria, are a pair of cultural entrepreneurs with big ideas. They’re hoping to raise their families to be more “wild and free.” Maria was a filmmaker with aspirations of winning awards at prestigious film festivals, a dream that became a reality posthumously through this documentary.
Maria first chronicled their family’s path through a blog that featured their bus home and their nomadic, adventurous lifestyle. As a result of following this story on our blog, documentary filmmaker Silje Jacobsen was inspired to produce a short pilot film introducing the family. Nik had thought that the project would only receive attention around some small Eastern European film festival. Perhaps unsurprisingly, “A New Kind of Wilderness” has enjoyed great success. It has already been broadcast on Norwegian television and is now being released in Japan, where the family’s new Nordic knitwear has captured hearts.
The film’s poetic narrative focuses on the family’s struggle to adjust to life following Maria’s death. Nik goes on to eloquently share the emotional tsunami that loss creates.
“At the start, the grief takes your breath away. You’re left gasping for the next breath. The only thing you can do is just breathe,” – Nik Payne
He expresses how grief isn’t just a temporary feeling but a constant factor in someone’s identity.
“Grief is an ongoing thing. Grief changes you forever. It’s part of you forever but it’s not the defining part,” – Nik Payne
In walking through their collective grief, Nik highlights how family unity and traditions are fundamental. The Paynes burn a new candle before each meal. They all hold hands and give thanks for their food and for each other, preserving this beautiful custom which has become so influential.
“We light a candle before each meal and hold hands. We’re not religious as such but we give thanks for the food, the day we’ve had and each other, and we send love up to Maria,” – Nik Payne
While Nik grapples with his own feelings of loneliness and loss, he recognizes that his children experience grief differently. He observes that their impromptu jubilation is what helps to keep him inspired to continue fighting on.
“It was so important for me that I had the kids. You haven’t any choice but to get up. It’s impossible to be miserable all the time because they come up with spontaneous joy,” – Nik Payne
Freja, one of the Payne children, shares her memories growing up alongside her siblings. They each deal with that loss in their own distinct ways.
“He wants to talk about farts. We don’t,” – Freja
Beyond just chronicling her life, she uses her experience of growing up with her father, using the comparison of growing up…to a war zone.
“It’s like being at a chimpanzee’s tea party with him,” – Freja
The resulting documentary would provide Nik and his family with a cathartic journey. Most importantly, it offers an intimate glimpse of their hardships, victories and perseverance when standing up to racism. Even with its success, Nik is the first to concede that the financial prospects of documentary filmmaking are dim at best.
It’s an ever present sense of hopelessness or despair,” he laments about his expectations for their academic trajectory. He had originally planned on home-schooling his children but it became harder and harder to maintain that presence after Maria died.
“They really did enjoy home schooling and they would have liked to continue. I had hoped that I could give them that, but I couldn’t see a way to do it,” – Nik Payne
Though Nik takes comfort in his surviving children—and the way they help him remember Maria—he is still faced with the profound isolation of his loss.
“I was just alone. It’s the loneliness of the last speaker of a dead language. That’s how I felt,” – Nik Payne
This extraordinary documentary uncovers the profound impact of grief on family relationships. Perhaps most importantly, though, it’s a celebration of the ways love and resilience help lead us through grief. It documents the hardship as well as the joy and the humor, which Freja knows to be a critical ingredient in storytelling.
“You need some comedic relief in a movie like that, I think,” – Freja
With striking cinematography and a powerful story, A New Kind of Wilderness has audiences around the world enchanted. It is a moving reminder and an extraordinary example of a permanent memorial created from love, remembrance, and an indomitable will to live despite unimaginable loss.