Hamptons Doc Fest and the Southampton Arts Center will celebrate Earth Day this weekend with their annual Docs Equinox program, which this year revolves around the theme of "Wildlife 360º: Celebrating All Creatures Great and Small."
The weekend includes three days of films, starting Friday at 7 p.m. with "Folktales," continuing Saturday at 7 with "Buck," and concluding Sunday morning at 11 with "Every Little Thing." Wine receptions will take place Friday and Saturday at 5:30, and a coffee and scone reception will precede Sunday's matinee at 10:30.
Jacqui Lofaro, Doc Fest's executive director, said, "Sigmund Freud is famous for saying 'Time spent with cats is never wasted.' Aldo Leopold, the great environmentalist, wrote, 'I'm glad I will not be young in a world without wilderness.' Whatever your sentiments are about the creatures we live with, remember that we share our planet with them."
Anyone who sees "Folktales" (2025) is likely to feel that Freud's sentiment applies to dogs as well, especially the Siberian huskies featured in the film. Directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, "Folktales" is set at Pasvik Folk High School in Norway, 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle. Folk schools offer students a gap year during which they learn the challenges of Arctic life, survival skills, and self-discovery.
The film focuses on three teenagers, Hege and Bjorn, both from Norway, and Romain, from the Netherlands. Hege's father was killed two years ago, Bjorn says he lacks friends and fears being an outsider, and Romain is a high-school dropout with a lot of self-doubt. In other words, not atypical teenagers in a complicated world.
The dogs live in a dog yard with individual houses, and their beautiful howling occupies an important place on the soundtrack. One of the sledding teachers says, "Dogs teach us to be more human." Another says, "Dogs can unlock something in people, especially shy people," and they do, over the course of the nine months the students spend at the school.
It begins in the mild weather of fall. We see Hege weeping on her cellphone that she wants to go home. Bjorn's feelings of inadequacy emerge when he has difficulty attaching a harness to a dog. Romain, the least secure, drops out during winter break.
But as the students face challenges -- dog sledding, solo camping in the woods for two winter nights, among them -- they begin to overcome their fears and learn to be self-reliant. Later in the year, Hege says, "I'm never on my phone. Why should I be on my phone? The dogs make me so happy." And Romain returns, admitting that he missed the school, and in the second half develops a close friendship with Bjorn.
There is no voice-over narrative, only occasional intertitles announcing changes in season or location. It is clear the filmmakers have an intimate connection to the teenagers, who are often shot in tight close-ups that put the viewer in the speakers' spaces as they express their feelings.
The students share the spotlight with the dogs and the Nordic landscape. Breathtaking aerial views and shots of animals and trees and the night sky alternate with action-packed dog-sledding scenes filmed from the point of view of the sleds' drivers.
"Folktales" was shown at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Sheri Linden of The New York Times wrote of the filmmakers, "There is poetry as well as deep affection in their close-ups of people and dogs, and lessons for any age in the way students tumble off their sleds and get right back up."
Before the screening, Carl Safina, a professor and naturalist, will present a keynote address and sign copies of his many books on nature. After the showing, Ewing will answer questions via Zoom.
"Buck" (2011), directed by Cindy Meehl, is about Buck Brannaman, the "horse whisperer" who inspired Nick Evans's 1995 novel and the film based on the book, starring, produced, and directed by Robert Redford. Meehl will Zoom in to take questions after the screening.
"In some sense it was beauty that saved Mr. Brannaman, that of his conscience and that of horses, which, having been tied to humans long ago, became companions, workers, and for some, as this lovely movie shows, saviors," wrote Manohla Dargis in The New York Times.
Directed by Sally Aitkin, "Every Little Thing" (2024), the story of Terry Masear, an author and hummingbird rehabilitator, was a festival favorite at Sundance in 2024. The film uses slow-motion photography to capture the lives of baby hummingbirds and the heroism of the tiniest creatures, according to Doc Fest. Aitken will also be on hand via Zoom after the film.
In her "Variety" review, Lisa Kennedy wrote, "At the start of the film, Masear tells a teeny passenger named Wasabi that they're 'safe, totally safe.' By movie's end, Masear's commitment and tenderness have made that declaration a sacred and unimpeachable vow."
Another feature of Docs Equinox is an Earth Central Hub consisting of informational tables and live animal visits during the Friday and Saturday receptions. Participating organizations are the Evelyn Alexander Wildlife Rescue Center, the South Fork Natural History Museum and Nature Center, and Turtle Rescue of the Hamptons.
Canio's Books will be on hand to sell books related to the Docs Equinox theme and those written by Safina. Raffle tickets will be sold for the Hampton Classic Horse Show in August, and for the Hydrant Hotel for dog owners.
Tickets to each program are $20, $15 for members of the Southampton Cultural Center, $10 for students and children. A three-day pass is available for $50, $45 for SAC members.
