Landmarks
Lucrecia Martel / Argentina, United States, Mexico, France, Netherlands & Denmark / 2025 / 122 min
The murder of a defenseless leader of an indigenous people draws parallels to decades of land theft and centuries of colonialism in Lucrecia Martel's documentary debut.
In 2009, three men showed up and claimed ownership of a piece of land in northwestern Argentina. Sixty-eight-year-old Javier Chocobar, a member of the Chuchagasta indigenous people who lived on the land, calmly confronted them to defend himself and his people from being kicked off their land. Chocobar was shot and killed, while two other Chuchagasta members were wounded.
The incident was captured on video, but it still took nine years of demonstrations and protests before the evidence led to a trial. And this incident is just one of many in an endless series of unjust cases of land theft in South America. Landmarks is a haunting investigation into a murder that should never have happened and the murder trial that followed. Argentinian director Lucrecia Martel is considered one of the most original filmmakers of the 21st century. Her long-awaited debut as a documentary filmmaker tackles neo-colonialism head on.