The Unknown Country

Lily Gladstone plays a young woman embarking on a transamerican journey in Morissa Maltz's quasi-documentary road movie.

Australian Premiere

Leaving a snow-covered Minneapolis behind her, Tana (Lily Gladstone) reluctantly embarks on a cross-country trip at short notice to visit her cousin who is getting married. Grieving a recent loss and fuelled by the re-connection that her family provides, Tana decides to continue her journey down unexpected roads to unexpected places.

Curator's Note

Morissa Maltz's collaborative second feature – and first in a loosely fictitious space – is a gently paced and thoughtfully propelled character journey spanning cultures and state lines.

Filmed without a script with mostly non-professional actors and improvised dialogue, the film draws inspiration and shape from the filmmaker's collaboration with actors Lily Gladstone and Lainey Bearkiller Shangreaux, and editor Vanara Taing whose combined storytelling formed the film's treatment. Documentary vignettes with real-life characters along the way further ingrain the film with an ambiguous line between fact and fiction calling to mind the films of Abbas Kiarostami.

Like all good road trips, The Unknown Country weaves in a stellar mixtape including tracks by Slowdive, Beach House and Sun June.

– Reece Goodwin, Curator (Film & TV)