Nuuca
2017 · 13m · Canada
Directed by Michelle Latimer
Genres: documentary, essay film
Tones: contemplative, dark, provocative
On North Dakota's Fort Berthold Reservation, an oil boom's influx of male workers coincides with a 168% rise in sexual violence, linking the exploitation of land and of Indigenous women.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Most docs about Indigenous land exploitation play it straight—Latimer refuses that comfort, braiding statistics with something rawer and more unsettling, though I'll admit the essay-film form sometimes feels like it's still searching for its exact shape.
This sits precisely in the lineage of Chris Marker and Agnès Varda—the essay film as rigorous argument—where data and image don't illustrate each other but create friction; Latimer's formal restraint transforms what could be activism into something that demands to be *thought* rather than merely felt.
The decision to let archival material and stark voiceover carry the weight instead of the expected interview testimony is what breaks it open—that choice to withhold the individual story forces you into the statistical horror, which is exactly where the film needs you.
Festivals
- Toronto International Film Festival 2017, Official Selection
- Sundance Film Festival 2018, Official Selection
- Berlinale 2018, Official Selection (Generation 14+)
- BlackStar Film Festival 2018, Best Short Film