The Act of Killing for free to the people of Indonesia
- The Danish production of US director Joshua Oppenheimer’s documentary about the killing of more than one million Indonesians after the 1965 military coup will be available after September 30
US director Joshua Oppenheimer’s documentary The Act of Killing [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (photo), which has been shortlisted by the Danish Oscar Committee as submission for the Academy Award nomination as Best Foreign-Language Feature, will be made available as a free digital download to the people of Indonesia.
Since the Indonesian government typically bans films dealing with human rights violations, a traditional theatrical distribution of the film has not been possible, according to US distributor Drafthouse Films, so local activists and ordinary citizens have organised more than 500 screenings of the film in 95 cities.
Drafthouse has now arranged with global media company VICE, digital platform VHX, Danish production company Final Cut for Real and the Anonymous crew behind the film that it can be seen via this website, geo-blocked exclusively for Indonesians, from the September 30 anniversary of the 1965-1966 genocide.
”The history belongs to the people of Indonesia, and for that reason it has always been our intention to give the film to them,” Oppenheimer explained. ”It was made in collaboration with over 60 anonymous Indonesian crew members; we worked together for seven years to open a space, where all Indonesians can finally discuss, without fear, how their nation’s traumatic past underpins a regime of corruption and impunity.”
The Act of Killing, which won the CPH:DOX-the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival 2012 and left this year’s Berlinale with the Ecumenical and the Audience awards, depicts the killing of more than one million Indonesians who were condemned as Communists after the 1965 military coup. It was directed with UK’s Christine Cynn and Anonymous (Indonesian filmmaker), and produced by Signe Byrge Sørensen for Final Cut for Real, with Werner Herzog and as executive producers.
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