Northern Light

About the Film

Northern Light interweaves the lives of three families in the northwoods of Michigan.

Set against the backdrop of a town’s annual snowmobile race, this cinematic, observational documentary explores the American working class experience. As racers and their families pin their hopes to a 500 mile-long test of endurance, small triumphs and giant sacrifices are made along the way.

From a frozen corner of the country emerge three American families.

Great Lakes connection:

Filmed in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.

Cast & Crew:

Director: Nick Bentgen
Producer: Lisa Kjerulff
Cinematographer: Nick Bentgen
Editor: Yoonha Park
Music: Saunder Jurriaans & Danny Bensi

Director’s Bio:

Nick Bentgen is a Brooklyn-based Director / Cinematographer. He was selected for IFP & Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Emerging Visions Program at the 2011 New York Film Festival. As a DP, Nick lensed Matt Wolf’s Teenage (Tribeca / Hot Docs 2013), and Daniel Carbone’s Hide Your Smiling Faces (Berlin / Tribeca 2013). He has directed commercials (New York City Ballet, Swarovski), music videos (Small Black, Pitchfork’s Juan’s Basement), and contributed to installations (Matt Keegan, I [Apple] NY). He has photographed spots for Apple, Friends of the Highline, Google, and American Express. Northern Light is his feature directorial debut.

Festivals AND AWARDS:

Official selection of the 2013 True/False Film Festival, Hot Docs, BAMcinemaFest, American Film Festival; winner of Most Innovative Feature Film at 2013 Visions du Réel; winner of Best Cinematography at 2013 New Orleans Film Festival.

Critics’ Pick:

Village Voice, New York Times

Director's Statement

The Upper Peninsula of Michigan means a great deal to me. My father grew up in Saint Ignace, and my family has lived there for five generations. I’ve always been fascinated by the region’s frozen landscape and the lifestyle it fosters.

I spent two years in Michigan filming Northern Light. My filmmaking partner, Lisa Kjerulff, and I began photographing three families who were about to compete in the Sault Ste. Marie I-500, an annual snowmobile race in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

This race was unlike anything we’d ever seen–a rich and dramatic community gathering and an undeniably cinematic spectacle. Snowmobiles hurtled at breakneck speeds around a mile-long oval track of pure ice for 500 miles. A crowd of thousands stood on giant hills of snow, transfixed throughout the morning and into the freezing night. We quickly discovered that beyond the loud, explosive action of this race was a community marked by genuine devotion and hard work–breakfasts before dawn, prayers before dinner, and naps after the night shift.

We continued to film after the race, capturing intimate portraits of these families as they were making it through the day. As we kept filming, the effects of the financial crisis took hold of the country, and the lives of Walt, Marie, Emily & Isaac and their families began to change profoundly.

We became captivated by their dramatic and unexpected stories. We decided to craft an observational film that tracks the intertwining lives of these three families–no interviews, no explanations, just the drama of life unfolding in the present tense.

We stayed in each family’s home and cooked dinners together. We shared many warm holidays. Emily, Isaac, Walt, Becky, Nick and Marie and their families invited us into their lives with a level of trust and honesty that still amazes me. They allowed us to create an emotional film that immerses the viewer in the changing lives of working class Americans.

Throughout the production of this film, I was humbled by the stubborn work-ethic of the families I came to know. Walt woke before dawn to drive his eighteen-wheeler to Alabama, Texas, and Pennsylvania. In the span of a single day, Marie worked the early shift at Walmart, picked up extra hours as a cleaning lady, cooked dinner for her children, and studied for her exams late into the night.

The families of rural Michigan are the inheritors of pioneers and homesteaders; ruggedly independent and determined, living with hope in an unforgiving environment and retaining a spirit of self-reliance I can know only by example. I’m amazed by the footage we’ve captured–its quality not created by any technique, but found, in the genuine and generous nature of three compelling American families. I’m proud to have shared this experience with them.

– Nick Bentgen