The crunch of snow, the fast-paced breathing of a runner on a winter’s night, the slow buzz of a snowmobile racing across the white expanse—these are the sounds and images that give Northern Light its impact. Without voiceovers or interviews, the film does all the talking. The annual snowmobile marathon in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula frames a moving portrait of middle-class America, where the quotidian is at once exciting and pointless.
From the Sunshine State to the frigid landscape of a Midwest winter, producer Lisa Kjerulff had to make some big adjustments while making Northern Light, including purchasing her inaugural pair of snow pants. She and first-time director, Nick Bentgen, remained true to the vérité documentary style despite frozen temps and close to frozen bank accounts. With the help of a successful Kickstarter, the film came to fruition and recently received the Most Innovative Feature at Visions du Réel Festival. Check out their Q&A below where they expound on the process of making a documentary without an initially defined plotline.
1. When and how did you come to know you wanted to make movies?
Nick Bentgen: I saw T2 and became obsessed.
Lisa Kjerulff: When I was growing up, my dad was a steadicam operator before he started his own video production company and my mom was always behind the VHS camcorder directing my brother and sisters and me, narrating everything we did. So making movies has always been a part of my life, nothing else ever made as much sense.
