Governance
2020 · 3m · Canada
Directed by Ho Che Anderson
Genres: documentary, essay film
Tones: contemplative, provocative
Criminologist Munira Abukar argues that justice and equity begin at home and challenges the cozy story of social equality. Her brief address names the changes 2020's awakening demands.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
A three-minute essay film where a criminologist lectures directly at the camera about systemic justice—on paper, this is precisely the kind of worthy-but-inert form that makes most people tune out, which is exactly why Anderson's refusal to sweeten it or undercut it with montage feels quietly radical.
Anderson positions *Governance* in the lineage of the essay film as intellectual tract, where argument and form become inseparable; the spare visual strategy—Abukar's presence, her words, minimal intervention—recalls the rigorous restraint of filmmakers like Harun Farocki, letting the weight of her challenge to 'cozy' equality narratives land without manipulation.
The decisive choice here is trusting Abukar's voice and gaze completely—no cutaways, no illustrative B-roll to soften the confrontation—which transforms what could've been a talking-head into an act of direct address that demands the viewer sit with discomfort rather than escape into comfortable aesthetics.