Truth Through Form: Our Land and The Headless Woman

Argentine filmmaker Lucrecia Martel is currently presenting two distinct works in the United States: her new feature documentary, Our Land (Nuestra Tierra), and a 4K digital restoration of her 2008 psychological thriller, The Headless Woman.

The documentary Our Land began its limited U.S. Theatrical rollout on May 1, 2026, opening at the Film Forum in New York City through Strand Releasing. The film previously premiered under the English title Landmarks at the Venice Film Festival in 2025. During its international run, the documentary received the top award at the BFI London Film Festival and an award in international competition at Locarno.

Concurrent with the release of the documentary, Martel has overseen the restoration of The Headless Woman. The film, which originally debuted in 2008, has been updated to a 4K digital restoration. This version has been screened at institutions including the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA) on April 18, 2026, and at Metrograph on April 25, 2026.

Thematic Continuity and Form

In both the new documentary and the restored 2008 feature, Martel utilizes an elusiveness of form as a primary tool for reaching the truth. This approach is particularly evident in The Headless Woman, where the narrative follows Veronica, a middle-aged dentist played by María Onetto. The plot centers on Veronica’s psychological unraveling after she becomes involved in a potential hit-and-run incident on a rural road in Argentina.

Critics and curators have described the 2008 film as a structurally splintered psychological thriller that builds tension through its atmospheric disorientation. The restored 4K version preserves this sense of unmooring, depicting a protagonist who becomes obsessed with the possibility that she killed a young boy, while remaining detached from her own identity and reality.

International Recognition

The arrival of Our Land in U.S. Theaters follows a period of significant critical success for the film on the global festival circuit. By securing a limited national release through Strand Releasing, the documentary brings Martel’s recent exploration of landscape and memory to a wider North American audience.

The simultaneous promotion of the documentary and the restored feature highlights a retrospective look at Martel’s career, linking her early mastery of suspense and social class in The Headless Woman with her more recent non-fiction work. This pairing allows for an examination of how her stylistic choices—specifically the use of fragmented forms—evolve across different cinematic genres.