In Minnesota’s unforgiving North Country, senior boys from rival communities skate for a last chance to etch their names into local lore. A 2022 Critics Choice Award nominee, “Hockeyland” captures the people and places of Minnesota’s north country with empathy, honesty, and a critical eye. Here, beauty and violence collide: not just in the carefully choreographed filming of ice hockey, but in the relationships between young men, and in the relationship between “Iron Rangers” and the land. Following one long winter, the film captures the natural drama of the high-school hockey season, but the heart comes from personal stories about shame, pain, life, loss, and the audacity to dream big.
Critics Choice Awards
Best Sports Documentary
Nominee
2022
#1 Documentary
Apple / Amazon
October/November 2022
Top 20 Documentary
US Annual Theatrical Box Office
2022
St. Louis Film Critics Association
Best Feature Documentary Nominee 2022
DocNYC Film Festival
World Premiere
Nov 2021
Seattle International
Film Festival
2022
“A must-see. Raw and brutally absorbing.”
David Ehrlich, IndieWire
“It’s a truly brilliant & passionate documentary!”
Dan Doody, Seattle IFF Programmer
“A fascinating look at Minnesota High School Hockey”
Greg Wyshynski, ESPN
“Hockeyland transcends its genre: this is more than a hockey movie, this is drama.”
Steve Marsh, Mpls St. Paul Magazine
“Best to watch this film in front of a fire.”
Dave Caldwell, The Guardian
“Rousing. Provides a keen window into the life of teen athletes. This film is a winner.”
Gary M. Kramer, MovieJawn
Northland Films are non-fiction storytellers in the Upper Midwest devoted to producing immersive and engaging films to be distributed theatrically.
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