Northern Lights (1978 film)

Northern Lights
Directed byJohn Hanson
Rob Nilsson
Produced byRob Nilsson
John Hanson
StarringRobert Behling
Susan Lynch
Joe Spano
CinematographyJudy Irola
Music byOzzie Ahlers
Release date
  • July 12, 1978 (1978-07-12)
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Northern Lights is a 1978 independent film that dramatizes the founding of the Nonpartisan League in North Dakota, a populist political movement in the American Midwest in the early 1900s.[1][2]

Production

The film was produced, directed, written and edited by John Hanson and Rob Nilsson, and starred Joe Spano, Robert Behling, Susan Lynch and Michel Wagner. It was filmed on location in North Dakota during the fall and winter of 1977, and used many locals as extras.[3]

The filmmakers filmed in grainy black-and-white 16mm as a conscious rejection of Hollywood production values, and about a third of the dialogue is in Norwegian. Judy Irola's cinematography has been compared favorably to Days of Heaven.[3]

Due to the extreme cold winter weather, with temperatures reaching as low as –40, many of the outdoor scenes had to be shot in short bursts, as cameras and other equipment only functioned for a short time before freezing up.

Accolades

The film was awarded the Caméra d'Or at the 1979 Cannes Film Festival for best first feature film (defined as "the first feature film for theatrical screening (whatever the format; fiction, documentary or animation) of 60 minutes or more in length, by a director who has not made another film of 60 minutes or more in length and released theatrically."[4]

See also

References

  1. ^ Canby, Vincent (September 26, 1979). "Movie Review - Northern Lights - Film: 'Northern Lights,' Story of Early Labor Wars:A Look at Long Ago - NYTimes.com". New York Times. Retrieved March 20, 2021.
  2. ^ The Public Cinema
  3. ^ a b Durkin, Tim (May 15, 1980). "From the People of North Dakota - Straight Talk About Politics - The Lansing Star". The Lansing Star. JSTOR 28039010.
  4. ^ Caméra d'Or Rules & Regulations 2011 Archived 2012-08-11 at the Wayback Machine.
  5. ^ The Paley Center for Media