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 of the populist Nonpartisan League in North Dakota in the 1910s, the film 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 16 mm in the dead of winter and featuring an astonishing cast of non-professional actors, this handmade masterpiece remains a stirring monument to collectivity.