Northern Lights

March 23 · Regal Riviera · 3:30 P.M.

John Hanson and Rob Nilsson, 1978, 109 minutes

“Extraordinary film-making: vast, looming close-ups of faces in b/w, a landscape gripped by winter, and behind it all a fictional re-creation of the struggle by a handful of Dakota farmers toward political organisation during WWI.” — Chris Auty, Time Out London

A key work of American neo-realism and collectivist filmmaking, Northern Lights depicts a love story set against a political organizing effort in North Dakota during the winter of 1915-16. In reviews of the time, the film’s stark, winter landscapes rendered in black and white frequently drew parallels to the work of Ingmar Bergman. The film’s politics and spirit are closer, perhaps, to something like Ermanno Olmi’s Tree of Wooden Clogs.

That collectivist spirit is not only depicted on-screen; it was stitched into its production. Northern Lights was written and directed by John Hanson and Rob Nilsson, members (along with cinematographer Judy Irola) of the Cine Manifest film collective. Hanson and Nilsson collected stories from farmers to develop Northern Lights’ fictionalized screenplay, and employed only three trained actors in the film’s production. Many of the performers — like 94-year old Henry Martinson, whose story frames the film — are re-enacting their own, or their family’s histories. The authenticity is palpable and no doubt contributed to Northern Lights winning the coveted Camera d’Or for Best First Feature at the 1979 Cannes Film Festival. Its reputation among cinephiles has not abated — Northern Lights was recently named by the Dardenne Brothers (Two Days, One Night, The Unknown Girl) as one of “79 Movies to See Before You Die.”

Northern Lights exists as a key example of American feature filmmakers self-distributing their own work via grassroots means well before the internet age. As writer Amanda Spake noted in a remarkable feature for Mother Jones in January 1979, “Northern Lights has been booked into about 40 of North Dakota’s 80 theaters. The movie has been held over again and again in cities like Bismarck and Fargo; in some theaters it is outdrawing Star Wars.”

After Northern Lights, Hanson and Nilsson went their separate ways. Hanson directed three more features including 1984’s acclaimed Wildrose; Nilsson produced a string of features generated out of acting workshops, increasing his output dramatically with the advent of digital video. His 1987 film Heat and Sunlight won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.