Rowdy Flock tells the story of Rebekka’s sister, Rakel, taking over her family’s sheep farm. It’s the last remaining farm in their village and has been in the family for four generations.

Rakel is not only taking responsibility for a flock of adventurous and accident-prone woolly animals, but also a way of life at a crossroads. Europe is in the midst of a dramatic shift to fewer and bigger, more intensive farms – the number of farms in Norway has more than halved since the 1990s. Sheep farming in particular is suffering with a lack of interest from children in taking on the business. Alongside her wife, Rakel is following in the footsteps of her much-loved father.

What was the genesis of this project?

It was the summer and I had returned to work on the farm, as I often do. As Rakel and I were working, we were talking about local food production and animal welfare and one of us said “it would be so great if someone made a film about that”. And there aren’t many people passing by with a camera so we decided to do it ourselves! There was some urgency – Rakel was about to take over the farm and we knew that we had to capture that big moment of change – so we started, and decided that the film would help us to raise some of the issues that are important to us.

What was it like for you making a film with your family?

I’ve been working at the farm in the summer and at lambing season since I moved away, but since making this film I’ve been back every month and that has brought me closer to this way of life again, to this work and to my family. I’ve seen my parents in a different way and I see what they’ve been working for, for so long. It’s their life’s work and it really touched me in a new way.

And also to see the transfer to my sister, I could see that it was so overwhelming for her. She was surprised, she thought that she would be well prepared – but you can never really be completely prepared for the responsibility for caring for the animals. It’s so much bigger than you can ever imagine.

Is sustainable farming in the public consciousness in Norway?

We have been making this film for six years and in that time about 3,000 farms have closed down in Norway. Right now, between one and two farms are closing down in Norway every day. And as a farmer, you don’t earn much money these days. Also, Norway is one of the least self-sufficient countries in the world when it comes to food. With every farm we lose, we lose the knowledge of food production, and then everyone around the farm will lose their connection to food production. Consumers also need to know about these pressures, and what is disappearing if nothing changes. I believe we need to choose the direction for our food production now and I think that it is important that we change the politics, and that is one of our key motivations with the film, to make that clear.

What do you hope people will take away from this film?

I hope that someone will see this as a possible life choice, and I would like to raise awareness and respect for that work. I also want our society to take a bigger responsibility for what food production we want. It’s not just about farmers, it’s about political choices that allow farmers to make a living from their farms. And for that we need to raise awareness in consumers to see that this is our common interest. But I have a lot of hope.

When we premiered the film in Oslo the minister of agriculture was there. Rakel gave a moving speech and talked about the values she feels are important in farming, but the reality is these values aren't being rewarded. So we need to choose the direction we want our farming and food production to go in, and for that we need politics.

Rowdy Flock is part of a wider project and we have made a feature-length documentary too that is currently screening in cinemas in Norway, and will go on to play at international film festivals. I’m happy to have the opportunity to reach audiences, particularly young audiences, with this subject and I think touring with the film and raising awareness around these values and themes that are important to me will be my work for the year ahead.