Kino Lorber announced that it has acquired worldwide rights to the celebrated American independent filmmaker Rob Nilsson’s Faultline, in addition to worldwide rights to his near complete filmography including his 1979 masterpiece Northern Lights, co-directed with John Hanson. The complete Nilsson catalog will be available on Kino Now in 2023, with select titles released theatrically as well. Faultline made its World Premiere at the Mill Valley Film Festival on October 11, and will receive a theatrical and digital release from Kino Lorber in 2023.
Faultline finds Nilsson in full control of the cinematic medium, crafting a hypnotic experience about the raw, messy intimacy of family and the global impact of today’s conflicted society. The third and final installment of Nilsson’s breathtaking Nomad Trilogy, following Arid Cut and Center Divide, Faultline is written and directed by Rob Nilsson and produced by Nilsson, Zhan Petrov, Michelle Allen, Rusty Murphy, and John Stout.
Faultline kicks off with a young man searching for a long-lost father, and his girlfriend wondering what’s the point. Meanwhile, a crew of wayfarers, lost in a dried-out wasteland, conducts their own search for other souls, water, and meaning. Under majestic skies and amidst transcendent natural wonders, these colorful wanderers uncover deep truths about unsettled modern life in our divided country. Equal parts shocking and calming, Faultline is its own rare breed of independent film, a gritty and beautiful cinematic poem. –Brendan Peterson, Mill Valley Film Festival
Long unavailable, Rob Nilsson’s feature debut Northern Lights won the Camera d’Or at the 1979 Cannes Film Festival, launching an esteemed career in independent filmmaking that has spanned over 40 years. Northern Lights will be re-released by Kino Lorber in 2023. Additional Nilsson films acquired by Kino Lorber include the first two entries in the Nomad Trilogy, Arid Cut and Center Divide; his 1986 film On the Edge, starring Bruce Dern, Pam Grier, and Bill Bailey; a new 2K restoration of the pool hustler drama Chalk, produced by Ethan Sing and Rand Crook; and Heat and Sunlight, produced by Steve and Hildy Burns, directed by and starring Nilsson, and winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 1988 Sundance Film Festival.
Rob Nilsson says of his approach to filmmaking, “I’ve spent my life in the arts trying to find out what I know or might still learn. The art which means anything to me teaches and inspires. I’m an audience out of curiosity and an artist out of necessity. If others experience my work in a spirit of discovery I’m delighted. But in any case I continue on questioning with stubborn conviction. In cinema I’ve collaborated with fascinating people. There I’m only a lifted finger to the sky which tries to bring down ignition to their talents. If the lightning strikes they show me things I couldn’t have imagined. Others study the heavens and the nature of matter. I study the wonders of human activity. I’m daily amazed by the levels of expression we’re capable of. I believe some of us are brilliant animals trying to use science to become immortal. But I find the temporal, secular, wondering animal much more interesting.”
The deal for Faultline and the Rob Nilsson catalog was negotiated by Kino Lorber President & CEO Richard Lorber.
“A landmark figure of American independent cinema, Rob Nilsson is a humanist filmmaker of the highest order, and a colleague and friend whose work casts a nuanced observational eye on everyday people and our society as a whole,” said Richard Lorber. “His extraordinary gift with amateur and professional actors alike has been evident since his 1979 debut Northern Lights, a talent that he continues to display in his latest film, Faultline, a perfect final chapter for his exquisite Nomad trilogy. We're honored that Faultline, Northern Lights, and Rob's entire archive of films will find a home at Kino Lorber, and can't wait to share his impressive work with audiences, many of whom will experience Nilsson cinema for the very first time.”
The acquisition of Rob Nilsson’s archive of films is the latest acquisition in Kino Lorber’s work to preserve the works of essential independent American filmmakers of the 1970s, with Nilsson’s films joining the collections of other groundbreaking American auteurs including Beth B, Ken Jacobs, Deborah Shaffer, and Mark Rappaport.
