(Kent Mackenzie, US 1961, 72 min.)

Practically unseen for nearly 50 years, Kent Mackenzie’s The Exiles is the film discovery of the year. Chronicling a day in the life of Native Americans who have left their reservation to live in the decaying Los Angeles neighborhood of Bunker Hill, Mackenzie seamlessly mixes documentary and narrative techniques to achieve a unique realism and a remarkable document of a people rarely depicted in film. But more than an anthropological study, The Exiles is a deeply emotional and personal achievement worthy of comparison to the best films of John Cassavetes and Charles Burnett.