Lucrecia Martel’s documentary Landmarks (Nuestra Tierra) has won the Best Film Award at the 69th BFI London Film Festival.
The film is described as a bold and beautiful reflection on the death and legacy of indigenous activist Javier Chocobar.
The Official Competition jury said, “Our jury has chosen “Landmarks” as the BFI London Film Festival’s Best Film for 2025. With deep empathy and extraordinary journalistic and cinematic rigor, the director Lucrecia Martel dives deep into the events surrounding the 2009 murder of the Chuschagasta leader Javier Chocobar, in Argentina’s Tucumán Province. In foregrounding present-day voices and neglected histories, Martel emerges with a portrait of — and for — an Indigenous community, and grants them a measure of the justice the courts have long denied them. Within a remarkably strong competition, our jury is proud to honor this singular achievement.”
One Woman One Bra by Kenyan filmmaker Vincho Nchogu walked away with the Sutherland Award for winning the First Feature Competition. The film is a humorous account of one woman’s fight to keep her ancestral land.
The First Feature jury said, “We are delighted to award the Sutherland Prize to Vincho Nchogu for her brilliant debut film, “One Woman One Bra”. We were incredibly impressed by her ability to confidently move between so many tones, but always holding the audience with care. Her film uses humor to shattering effect. Vincho also elicited fantastic performances from her entire cast, complemented by stunning cinematography throughout. The piece is at once funny, life-affirming, and deeply moving; its emotional journey stayed with us and will continue to do so.”
David Bingong’s The Travelers is an intimate and hopeful account of the dangerous journey taken by a group of migrants from Cameroon to Europe, won the Grierson Award in the Documentary Competition.
The Documentary Competition jury said, “Facing the most inhumane of circumstances—a dangerous sea crossing from Morocco to Spain—the camaraderie of young Cameroonian men is rendered with kinetic intensity. An immersive journey of intimate photography, humor, and a spontaneously arising soundtrack contextualizes the past lives and present perils of its protagonists. In his raw film “The Travelers”, David Bingong, himself a migrant among them, offers a deeply personal and affecting lens on the humanitarian crisis of African refugees and asylum seekers adrift in both the Mediterranean Sea and the legal limbo of the EU’s broken immigration system.”
A Special Mention went to Deming Chen’s Always, a portrait of a gifted young poet growing up in rural China.
Coyotes directed by Said Zagha won the Short Film Award in the Short Film Competition. Set amid the Israel- Palestinian conflict, when Israeli soldiers interrupt her commute home, a Palestinian doctor is forced down a desolate road and her future is thrown into disarray.
The Short Film Competition Jury said, “Coyotes quietly opens a door into a psychological state of fear faced by people caught in the midst of conflict; a fear that cuts through the everyday atrocities witnessed by those watching publicly from outside. We chose the film for its subtle introduction of characters, the evident love for its craft, and its confident command of viewer expectations.”
The winners of this year’s films In Competition are:
LANDMARKS – Lucrecia Martel, Official Competition (Best Film Award)
ONE WOMAN ONE BRA – Vincho Nchogu, First Feature Competition (Sutherland Award).
THE TRAVELERS – David Bingong, Documentary Competition (Grierson Award)
Special Mention: ALWAYS – Deming Chen
COYOTES – Said Zagha, Short Film Competition (Short Film Award)
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