The Cinematheque

“A landmark in and of itself … A documentary defined by robust and muscular filmmaking technique allied to a clear-eyed, slow-burning anger.”

Catherine Bray, Little White Lies

Eight years after Zama returned Lucrecia Martel to arthouse prominence, Our Land, her first feature documentary, again proves the Argentine auteur’s slow-bake methods yield unparalleled results. Far from being an outlier in her slender oeuvre, Martel’s scrupulously researched work of nonfiction attends to themes—on class, on colonialism—long central to her practice. In 2009, armed settlers, claiming ownership of land, entered the community of Chuschagasta in northern Argentina and murdered Javier Chocobar, local leader and activist. Though captured on video, nine years of judicial inactivity would elapse until a trial. Martel chronicles the case both in and outside the courtroom, tracing a legacy of Indigenous erasure while sharing the first-hand histories of members involved. Crucially, the director’s station as an ally but outsider authoring the film doesn’t go unaddressed, manifesting in moments of formal disruption that demarcate the limits of her access.

In Spanish with English subtitles

Best Film
BFI London Film Festival 2025

“A searing chronicle of a slow-motion crime … At once the anatomy of a killing and its subsequent trial, and a comprehensive portrait of an Indigenous community that has suffered from centuries of injustice.”

Jordan Mintzer, The Hollywood Reporter

“Martel strips Argentina’s mythmaking down to its colonial foundations … [Her] filmmaking here is intentionally straightforward and precise, wielding careful storytelling as a cudgel against the bludgeoning power of the state.”

A.G. Sims, Reverse Shot