Nuestra Tierra

In October 2009, Javier Chocobar, a member of the indigenous Chuchagasta community in the northwestern Argentine province of Tucumán, tried to defend himself and his people against a violent eviction from their land by a local landowner and two former police officers. In the process, the 68-year-old man was shot dead, and two other members of the community were injured.

In her comprehensive and insightful first documentary, Argentine filmmaker Lucrecia Martel approaches this tragic true story in a multifaceted way. She interweaves the murder trial of the three men with the life of Chocobar and his fellow community members, as well as the centuries-old colonial legacy of land and property theft across Latin America.

With a breathtaking—at times dizzying—visual approach to filming the natural landscape of this contested region, Martel pays cinematic tribute to a people whose history has been systematically erased.

Locarno Film Festival: Best International Film