Wolf Park
Date:
January 9, 2023
Wolf Park
Wolf Park
by Demelza Kooij
Folk Film | Norway
Sisyfos Film | Sweden
Jump Cut | Italy
1st feature
Looking for Gap-Financing, Festival Release, Sales Agent
Logline
Wolf Park is the tragic story of Talla, the last wolf of her kind, seen through the eyes of a filmmaker who is also searching for her place in the world.
Synopsis
Deep in the night, distant wolf howling lures a filmmaker closer. She follows the sound to its source and finds herself in a wolf park. In the eyes of the wolves, she glimpses a wild past she feels herself drawn to. She uses her camera to get a better understanding of this ‘wolf world’.
She becomes enthralled by a young female wolf called Talla, who is the odd one out in the pack. As Talla grows up, she gets more and more dominant. This behaviour clashes with other she-wolves, who sense a threat for their positions in the pack. When Talla loses an ear in a fight, the animal keepers intervene and put her in an enclosure by herself. Demelza begins to recognise the artificiality of the park and the consequences of keeping these ‘wild’ animals in confinement. If Talla would live in the wild, at this moment in time she could leave the pack and become a lone wolf in search of another pack or start a wolf-family of her own. In the park she cannot make this decision; Talla’s future is in the hands of humans.
For years Demelza returns to witness Talla’s life in captivity. She sees parallels between her own problems and Talla’s predicament: Demelza also feels she’s an outsider and misses a sense of belonging. But, as she gradually realises, Demelza can take control of her own life whereas this is impossible for Talla. As the world of Talla gets smaller and smaller, Demelza understands she has the ability to set herself free.
Director’s Profile
Dr Demelza Kooij is a director of documentary, hybrid film, and moving image installations. She explores the beyond-human, human engagement with flora & fauna, cultural heritage, sci-fi, and women’s histories.
Her 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 (2018); screenings such as Festival Du Nouveau Cinéma Montréal, Edinburgh IFF, Hamptons FF, Zinebi, Full Frame, and exhibitions at Wroclaw Media Art Biennale, FACT Liverpool, The Finnish Museum of Photography, and The National Museum of Modern & Contemporary Art Seoul [MMCA].
Demelza also directed award-winning shorts Graminoids (2014) and The Breeder (2017). Wolf Park is her feature debut.
Company Profile
JUMP CUT – Jump Cut is an independent film production company founded in 2011. Based in Trento, in the Trentino-Alto Adige region of northern Italy, the company is dedicated to producing arthouse films that are experimental in theme, style, and form.
In addition to its own productions, Jump Cut provides executive production services within the region for both fiction and documentary projects.
Jump Cut’s most recent releases include Il mondo è troppo per me (The World Is Too Much for Me), directed by Vania Cauzillo, L’Inganno (Deception), directed by Sebastiano Luca Insinga, and Sconosciuti Puri (Pure Unknown), directed by Valentina Cicogna and Mattia Colombo.
FOLK FILM – Folk Film is an independent production company focusing on creative documentaries and animation. It does a lot of international co-productions, and most recently co-produced the feature documentary Motherland, which won the main award at the 2023 CPH:DOX and was nominated for the European Film Awards. Other titles include How to Save a Dead Friend (ACID Cannes, winner Grand Jury Prize International Competition DOC NYC 2022) and The Scars of Ali Bouala (premier Tribeca, winner TEMPO 2021).
Folk Film produced Demelza Kooij’s film ‘Wolves from Above’, winning the Jury Award at the 2019 Ann Arbor Film Festival.
SISYFOS FILM – Based in Stockholm, Sweden and Edinburgh, Scotland, Sisyfos is behind the internationally acclaimed films such as Scheme Birds (Best Documentary Feature, Tribeca Film Festival, 2019), Merry Christmas, Yiwu (Winner of the Heart of Sarajevo, 2020), The Scars of Ali Boulala (Tempo Documentary Award, 2022), How to Save a Dead Friend (ACID Cannes 2022) Butterfly Vision (Cannes Un Certain Regard 2022) and Motherland (Winner CPH:DOX, 2023)