Netherlands

Fiction

A decade after they were best friends and roommates, Chris (35) and Lluis (34) set out on a 600-kilometre hike through the Scottish Highlands. Following the West Highland way and The Cape Wrath Trail, they spend 30 days together in nature – hoping to rekindle their once-powerful friendship. But while Chris remains preoccupied with work and life back at home, Lluis is determined to finish the trail to prove he can do it. The solitude and silence of the Highlands forces them to confront harsh truths about themselves, their friendship, and what it truly means to stand still and listen.

Written & directed by: Bart Schrijver
Produced by: Bart Schrijver, Arnold Janssen, Tom Holscher
Cinematography: Twan Peeters
Editing: Gijs Walstra
Original Score: Michiel Nieuwenhuijs
Sound: Morten Brogaard, Birgit de Priester
Cast: Bart Harder (Chris), Carles Pulido (Lluis), Steve Walker (Fraser), John McQuiston (Jack), Gráinne Blumenthal (Emma), Matthijs van de Sande Bakhuyzen (Tom), Sharon Verdegem (Sara)

Statement of the director:
When you make a film about hiking, I believe you also have to hike. In 2018, a friend and I hiked the length of New Zealand. In 4.5 months, we hiked more than 3,000 kilometres. This is where my love of hiking, nature, and the silence and solitude it provides began. In 2019, I hiked 700 kilometres from the North Cape to Finland. This experience was so intense that I made my first film about it: HUMAN NATURE.
Going to Scotland has always been a dream of mine: to feel the ruggedness of the Highlands and experience the landscape. In 2024, I finally went and hiked the West Highland Way and the Cape Wrath Trail. Unfortunately, I needed to stop before I reached the Cape because of an injury. But a new idea for a film was born, based on my hike in New Zealand, walking with my friend, and my experience of the spirit of the Highlands.
To make a film about two friends hiking 600 kilometres through the Highlands, I believe there is only one way of doing this: you have to walk most of it yourself during filming. I want everyone in the crew to feel what it is like to be out there. To protect that feeling, I made this film with as small a crew as possible. For THE NORTH, we were six people: two actors, one sound recordist, a camera operator, a documentarian, and me. This was the crew we took out into nature. We also had four people helping and supporting us with cars and food.
We were walking for four to six days at a time. We had to bring everything with us in our backpack: food, tents, and all other hiking gear. But also everything to make the film: two cameras, a tripod, sound equipment, and enough batteries to last the whole stretch. This led to a backpack weight of up to 33 kilograms. There are no fancy hotels or catering services on top of a hill in the Highlands. We all slept in our tents, ensuring that the whole crew knew what it felt like. The actors knew how it felt to hike up a hill with a full pack and sleep in a tent during a storm. They carried this experience into the film. So, when they were tired, hungry, or wet, it was all real.
Normally, in filmmaking, you want to control everything: you want to control the lights, the sound, the environment, but that is impossible out in nature. It is also something I don’t want to do. I want the Highlands to give me what they have. So, if it rains, we film in the rain. If there is a storm, we film in the storm. Just like hiking, you deal with the weather you are given and make the best out of it. I rewrite the scenes on the spot so that they fit with the weather.
Making a film while hiking has more advantages. You start at the beginning, and then you walk. So, you also shoot the film chronologically, something that doesn’t happen too often in filmmaking. For budgetary reasons, films are usually shot out of order. Shooting in order means that the film can develop itself. Every night, I lay in my tent and rewrite the script based on the scenes we shot that day or conversations I’ve had with the cast and crew. The film is fluid. We are also discovering, day by day, what it is really about and where it is going. This is a really exciting process. Also scary, but mostly exciting.

Production, World Sales:
Tuesday Studio
https://tuesdayfilm.com/