Film examines the 1965 Indonesian Killings

Filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer’s latest work The Look of Silence shows a family of survivors who discovers how their son was murdered and the identities of the killers through watching footage of perpetrators of the 1965 Indonesian genocide. Adi, the youngest son, breaks the spell of submission and terror by confronting the men who killed his brother.
This film is a companion piece to Oppenheimer’s Oscar-nomiated The Act of Killing. 
“I knew that I would make another film, one where we step into those haunted spaces and feel viscerally what it is like for the survivors forced to live there, forced to build lives under the watchful eyes of the men who murdered their loved ones, and remain powerful. That film is The Look of Silence,” says Oppenheimer.
After a failed coup of the 30 September Movement, the Indonesian Killings of 1965 was an anti-communist purge. It is estimated more than 500,000 people were killed. It was a pivotal event to eliminate the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), leading to president Sukarno’s downfall and the start of Suharto’s 30-year presidency. 
The Look of Silence had its world premiere in the official competition at the 71st Venice Film Festival, where it won the Grand Jury Prize, the International Film Critics Award (FIPRESCI) among many other awards. 
The Look of Silence opens in Canada beginning Friday, July 24 in Toronto (Bloor Hot Docs Cinema), Vancouver (Vancity Theatre), Montreal (Cinéma du Parc, ExCentris tbc) and Edmonton (Metro Cinema) and is distributed in Canada by Blue Ice Docs.
For more information, visit www.thelookofsilence.com

 

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