‘Argentina needs to end its fantasy of being a European country’: Lucrecia Martel on the story of a killing

The film-maker talks about her homeland’s ‘racism, paternalism and infantilisation’ towards Indigenous people and her award-winning documentary about a community leader’s murder

In one scene from Landmarks, the new documentary by the Argentinian film-maker Lucrecia Martel, a tour guide shows children a painting on the ceiling of a Catholic church depicting how “Indigenous attempted to break into the city”. “See how these angels fought to keep the Indigenous out, and they sent these beams to scare them away,” says the guide.

The following scene shows Indigenous people from the region – including a child baptised in that very church – watching footage of the tour on a mobile phone. One of them said: “Listening to him [the guide], you realise how convinced he is that even God wants to erase us for good.”