An on going project of UK filmmaker Juliet Klottrup, Youth of the Rural North captures portraits and voices of young people living in rural communities in the Yorkshire Dales and Cumbria, where personal identity and place are found to be closely intertwined. The film is an honest, unaltered and timeless portrait of its subjects and the rugged landscape that surrounds them. With parts of the landscape untouched for generations and some routines unchanged, it focuses on portraits from farmers to fell runners and mothers to be. And true to its traditional entity, the film is shot entirely analogue 8mm film - like an archival, information film- and it is accompanied by music composed using analogue mediums, too.


Kottrup 'Growing up with Northern roots but a Southern postcode and accent to match. My family moved back up North as I was finishing school, a time when you begin to establish a sense of who you are in this world post education. 
 Motivated by coming back ‘home’ and a sense of departing youth I began to learn and understand with fresh eyes what it’s like to grow up in the area. There is a fleetingness to youth, a fragility to rural living. As traditional heritage evolves it is important to capture what is here while it is here. These portraits are a collection of serendipitous moments, encounters were made because I was on a walk or because they’re my neighbours. The collection is an ode to our landscape and a tribute to the young people who allowed me to capture their portraits so truthfully and sincerely.'