WAIHEKE COLLECTIVE FILM FESTIVAL
Wilding
Host: Te Korowai o Waiheke
When their struggling English farm begins to fail, Isabella Tree and Charlie Burrell make a radical choice: to stop intensive agriculture, trust natural processes and let their land go wild, sparking a surprising explosion of life and a reimagining of what a modern countryside can be.
Director
David Allen
CAST
Isabella Tree • Charlie Burrell • Ted Green
RATING
VA
Coarse language
RUNTIME
1h 15m
COUNTRY
United Kingdom
GENRE
Documentary, Environment, Nature
LANGUAGE
English
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FILM NOTES
A lyrical, hopeful portrait of a landscape – and a couple – learning to thrive again.
Wilding is adapted from Isabella Tree’s acclaimed book of the same name, charting the rewilding of Knepp, a 3,500‑acre estate in West Sussex, England. As mounting debt and depleted soil make conventional farming untenable, Tree and her husband Charlie Burrell abandon ploughs and pesticides in favour of roaming cattle, pigs and ponies, guided by pioneering ecologists like oak expert Ted Green. The film traces this bold experiment over time, showing how hedgerows, wetlands, insects and birds return once human control loosens its grip.
For audiences, the documentary offers a gentle but quietly radical vision of what “letting go” can achieve. Sunlit meadows, mud‑spattered animals and patient observational footage invite viewers to notice small, cumulative changes rather than instant transformations. Isabella’s narration and on‑the‑ground conversations keep the story intimate and human, balancing scientific insight with personal doubt, joy and surprise. It’s an inspiring choice for anyone curious about rewilding, climate resilience or simply how much life can rush back when we give nature room.