Exclusive Restoration Trailer for Northern Lights Reintroduces Powerful Cannes Winner

One of the most remarkable discoveries I witnessed at last year’s New York Film Festival was the Revivals selection Northern Lights. John Hanson and Rob Nilsson’s overlooked 1978 drama, recently revived in a gorgeous 4K restoration, captures the plight of immigrant Dakotan farmers. While its shared release year and similar logline may have one recalling Terrence Malick’s Days of Heaven, Northern Lights makes for a fascinating counterpart as it eschews a certain sense of rapturous beauty to take a more sobering look at the reality of daily life and necessity of collective action.

Picked up by Kino Lorber, the 4K digital restoration created by IndieCollect and Metropolis Post in collaboration with directors John Hanson and Rob Nilsson will now roll out beginning on May 23 at NYC’s Film at Lincoln Center with the directors in attendance. Ahead of the release, we’re delighted to exclusively premiere the trailer and poster for the Camera d’Or winner for Best First Feature at Cannes in 1979.

Here’s the synopsis: “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.”

See the exclusive trailer and poster below.