The Wild Huntsman

I've always been fascinated by fairy-tales, folk tales and myths from across the world. I'm especially fascinated by symbolic archetypes, doubly so when they appear across borders in the myths of neighbouring cultures. While looking for inspiration for my next short film I came across the Danish/German folk tale of "The Fairy Hunter", a simple story about a hunter that kills an elf-girl. Meanwhile, I came across the British legend of Herne the hunter, an antlered huntsman who is believed to be an incarnation of both the Celtic god Cernunnos and the head of the Norse gods; Odin—the latter of which is also the leader of the Wild Hunt. With these discoveries I decided to create my own cross-cultural archetype myth, and to film it in my hometown of Stavanger in Norway, which I knew would not only provide me with beautiful nature scenery, but also a genuine Iron Age farmhouse. As such the finished film follows an historically accurate Viking-age farm boy as he is briefly drawn into another realm where he will encounter a pair of supernatural beings not quite definable by any one culture.