Northern Lights, winner of the Camera d’Or for Best First Feature at the 1979 Cannes International Film Festival and many other prizes around the world, is a classic American independent film. Originally released in 1978, this is the new 4K restoration produced in 2024. Against a backdrop of a bitter winter on the Dakota prairie and the equally brutal economic forces of 1915, a story unfolds which pits small Midwestern farmers against “the powers that be” – bankers, railroad men, big grain dealers and an entrenched political machine. Based on the fictional diary of farmer Ray Sorenson (Robert Behling), Northern Lights chronicles the struggle of these small farmers as they fight to save their farms, their families and their very way of life.
The Coronado Island Film Festival (CIFF) welcomes makers and lovers of film from all over the world to the storied seaside village of Coronado, California to celebrate the magical art of visual storytelling. Coronado’s enduring love affair with Hollywood began more than a century ago.