Directed by Rob Nilsson and John Hanson

Directed by Rob Nilsson and John Hanson

4 Episodes

Fiercely independent voices in American cinema, Rob Nilsson and John Hanson make films that capture the grit and resistance of ordinary Americans on the front lines of class struggle. Through their groundbreaking dramatic feature NORTHERN LIGHTS and the revelatory documentary shorts known as the Prairie Trilogy, Nilsson and Hanson excavate a radical past, chronicling the lives and work of early North Dakota socialists and finding hope, solidarity, and stirring contemporary resonance in stories of collective action.

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Directed by Rob Nilsson and John Hanson
  • Northern Lights

    Episode 1

    Directed by Rob Nilsson and John Hanson • 1978 • United States
    Starring Robert Behling, Susan Lynch, Joe Spano

    Winner of the Camera d’Or at the 1979 Cannes Film Festival, NORTHERN LIGHTS is one of the most moving and committed works of political cinema from the 1970s. Dramatizing the formation o...

  • Prairie Fire

    Episode 2

    Directed by Rob Nilsson and John Hanson • 1977 • United States

    A strikingly shot work of documentary as historical corrective, John Hanson and Rob Nilsson’s PRAIRIE TRILOGY chronicles the story of early North Dakota socialists through a portrait of Henry Martinson, a ninety-seven-year-old ex-org...

  • Rebel Earth

    Episode 3

    Directed by Rob Nilsson and John Hanson • 1980 • United States

    A strikingly shot work of documentary as historical corrective, John Hanson and Rob Nilsson’s PRAIRIE TRILOGY chronicles the story of early North Dakota socialists through a portrait of Henry Martinson, a ninety-seven-year-old ex-org...

  • Survivor

    Episode 4

    Directed by Rob Nilsson and John Hanson • 1980 • United States

    A strikingly shot work of documentary as historical corrective, John Hanson and Rob Nilsson’s PRAIRIE TRILOGY chronicles the story of early North Dakota socialists through a portrait of Henry Martinson, a ninety-seven-year-old ex-org...