Northern Lights
New 4K Restoration by IndieCollect in collaboration with
Metropolis Post and the Academy Film Archive.
Co-presented by the Tenderloin Museum!
“Tough-minded and tender…A fictional drama with a stark documentary flavor, Northern Lights is a remarkable, moving recreation of a long-forgotten period of American history…”
– Judy Stone, San Francisco Chronicle
Director Rob Nilsson IN PERSON Tue, 6/17 & Sat 6/21!
Winner of the Camera d’Or at the 1979 Cannes Film Festival, the sui generis Northern Lights marks one of the most moving and committed works of political cinema from the late 1970s. Dramatizing the formation of the populist Nonpartisan League in North Dakota in the mid-1910s, Northern Lights captures the plight of immigrant Dakotan farmers as they toil and struggle against the combined forces of industry and finance. Amid this paroxysm of class tension, two young lovers find themselves swept up in the tide. Shot on location (on grain-rich black-and-white 16mm) in the dead of winter and featuring an astonishing cast of non-professional actors, this handmade masterpiece remains a stirring monument to collectivity.
Produced, directed, written and edited by John Hanson & Rob Nilsson. Cast: Robert Behling, Susan Lynch, Joe Spano, Marianne Åström DeFina, Ray Ness and Helen Ness.
Rob Nilsson’s ‘9 @ Night’ series starts every second Thursday, beginning with “Noise” September 11, 2025 at the Tenderloin Museum !
