Wolf Park

Cannes Docs

Wolf Park

Original title: Wolf Park

Directed by: Demelza Kooij

Produced by: Anita Norfolk (Folk Film, Norway)

Country of production: Norway, Sweden, Italy

Runtime: 85'

Expected release: April, 2025

Production stage: Production

Budget: €320 000 (58% in place)

1st feature: Yes

Looking for: Festivals, Sales Agents / Distributors, Gap Financing

Synopsis:

A filmmaker has recurring dreams about wolves. She visits a wolf park, hoping it will help her understand their hold on her. There she becomes captivated by the young female wolf Talla. For years she returns to witness Talla’s confinement, as it is a lens through which she sees herself. Wolf Park questions the natural and artificial, free and confined, and our paradoxical relationship with the wild.

Director’s profile:

Dr Demelza Kooij is a filmmaker, artist, and researcher. In her work she depicts other worlds: un(der)explored territories nearby and far away; the beyond human, film as art, ecologies of the sea, land, sky and exchanges in-between. Demelza’s work is presented at film festivals, art exhibitions, and museums. Highlights are winner of the Jury Prize at the 57th Ann Arbor Film Festival 2019 for WOLVES FROM ABOVE, Wroclaw Media Art Biennale, and screenings at Festival Du Nouveau Cinéma Montréal, Hamptons IFF, Edinburgh IFF, Zinebi, Full Frame, Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp [M HKA], FACT Liverpool, and The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Seoul [MMCA].

Producer’s profile:

Anita Norfolk is the founder of Folk Film, an independent production company in Bergen, Norway. It most recently co-produced feature documentaries MOTHERLAND (winner DOX:AWARD 2023, nominated for the European Film Awards) and HOW TO SAVE A DEAD FRIEND (Acid Cannes 2022, winner DOC:NYC). Anita also produced Demelza Kooij’s short film WOLVES FROM ABOVE. Prior to Folk Film Anita worked for over a decade in the UK, first in animation for video games developer Rockstar Games (Grand Theft Auto IV, Red Dead Redemption), before moving into producing for the award-winning studio Mosaic Films. She was the development producer on feature documentary OUT of THIN AIR (Netflix, BBC Storyville), and series producer on When I Worry About Things (BBC), an animated documentary series that won an RTS award. Anita is a Eurodoc alumni.