Wild Wounded Animals

The anxiety attacks that Jakob has suffered since he was 21 overcome him intensely when he is at his most vulnerable: holding his newborn baby in his arms. Thinking back to his childhood, and wondering if this anxiety runs in the family, the filmmaker visits his father, a taciturn hunter. Tentatively, a deeper contact develops between them. This becomes especially palpable when the father is willing to sing the "Helplessness Blues" with his church choir.

This directorial debut unfolds as a very personal self-examination, in which feelings of fear and alienation are translated into evocative images. Footage from security cameras, night shots of animals caught in the woods, or the slaughter of a deer visually express what is hard to put into words in the intimate, cautious conversations—complemented by a moving commentary in which Jakob shares his thoughts with his child.

Wild Wounded Animals is a film in a tradition of harsh Nordic family portraits, about fatherhood, the fear of death, escaping from what feels predestined, and the power of love.