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In the observational “Folktales,” Oscar-nominated docmakers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady (“Jesus Camp”) once again consider education and social context, a concept that marked their first collaboration, “The Boys of Baraka” in 2005. They follow a trio of teenagers taking a “gap year” at a Norwegian Folk High School in Pasvik, located 300 miles north of the Arctic Circle. The nine-month program, teaching outdoor survival skills and dog mushing as well as Norwegian language and culture, is open to teens from all over the world, although how the students are chosen, how many there are and what it costs to attend is never specified. What shines through loud and clear is the importance of the feelings of self-confidence and direction engendered by acquiring such wilderness skills and deploying them successfully.

With the epic, primal beauty of its remote location, “Folktales” scores high on visual aesthetics, but rates lower on actual content, as...

A warm and big-hearted crowdpleaser set against a cold and seemingly inhospitable backdrop, Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady’s Folktales can look to Sundance precedent to safely expect to find a welcoming audience.

Their new documentary is Boys State (or Girls State) with Norwegian dogsledding instead of American civics.

Or perhaps, to look to the filmmakers’ own catalogue, Folktales is a dyslexic Jesus Camp, its young subjects turning to dog instead of God for personal growth.

Either way, Folktales is an easily embraceable coming-of-age documentary that makes up for what it lacks in depth with its surplus of wise, vaguely anthropomorphized canine companions. It’s a film that benefits from being seen with a crowd, not just to experience its lavishly furry and frigid images on the biggest screen possible, but to be part of a communal ritual in which everybody simultaneously coos at and cajoles the featured animals.

Yes.