John Hanson

The solo actor in Shimmer tells the story by becoming each character in turn. The play takes place in 1956, in a harsh Midwestern juvenile detention center, where two boys befriend each other.

A mob boss' plan to rub out his competition runs into trouble when his boat is attacked by a group of gay rights activists whose leader believes he is the legendary Captain Bligh .

Henry Martinson accompanies a young North Dakota farmer searching for the sites of his past. The second part of John Hanson and Rob Nilsson's Prairie Trilogy.

A woman's unfulfilling marriage leads her into a passionate affair with a wealthy extramarital lover.

The bittersweet story of young lovers caught up in a political struggle waged by farmers against the grain trade, the banks, and the railroads. Set in 1915–16 North Dakota, a largely forgotten era of American history.

June Lorich works at the Mesabi Mine on Minnesota's iron range. After an emotionally and physically abusive marriage, June is determined to make it on her own. But the worsening steel industry forces major cutbacks and June is bumped down to an all-male pit. She becomes the brunt of the other workers' hostilities and is forced to fight against them -- and the man she loves -- to save her job.

The solo actor in Shimmer tells the story by becoming each character in turn. The play takes place in 1956, in a harsh Midwestern juvenile detention center, where two boys befriend each other.

Henry Martinson accompanies a young North Dakota farmer searching for the sites of his past. The second part of John Hanson and Rob Nilsson's Prairie Trilogy.

Henry Martinson accompanies a young North Dakota farmer searching for the sites of his past. The second part of John Hanson and Rob Nilsson's Prairie Trilogy.

A woman's unfulfilling marriage leads her into a passionate affair with a wealthy extramarital lover.

The bittersweet story of young lovers caught up in a political struggle waged by farmers against the grain trade, the banks, and the railroads. Set in 1915–16 North Dakota, a largely forgotten era of American history.

The bittersweet story of young lovers caught up in a political struggle waged by farmers against the grain trade, the banks, and the railroads. Set in 1915–16 North Dakota, a largely forgotten era of American history.

The bittersweet story of young lovers caught up in a political struggle waged by farmers against the grain trade, the banks, and the railroads. Set in 1915–16 North Dakota, a largely forgotten era of American history.

June Lorich works at the Mesabi Mine on Minnesota's iron range. After an emotionally and physically abusive marriage, June is determined to make it on her own. But the worsening steel industry forces major cutbacks and June is bumped down to an all-male pit. She becomes the brunt of the other workers' hostilities and is forced to fight against them -- and the man she loves -- to save her job.

June Lorich works at the Mesabi Mine on Minnesota's iron range. After an emotionally and physically abusive marriage, June is determined to make it on her own. But the worsening steel industry forces major cutbacks and June is bumped down to an all-male pit. She becomes the brunt of the other workers' hostilities and is forced to fight against them -- and the man she loves -- to save her job.

The first segment of what would eventually be the Prairie Trilogy, about veteran North Dakota poet and socialist organizer Henry Martinson, who fought against economic exploitation. Martinson recounts the 1916 birth of the Socialist Nonpartisan League, his narrative accompanied by images shot by Nilsson’s own grandfather, Frithjof Holmboe.

The final segment of the Prairie Trilogy, about a veteran North Dakota poet and socialist organizer, who fought against economic exploitation. Finished the year before Martinson’s death, it focuses on the biography of its subject, here found in a funny and expansive mood.

A independent film directed by John Hanson.

A independent film directed by John Hanson.