Survivors of the 1965 Indonesian genocide finally learn the truth about the ones they lost in Director Joshua Oppenheimer’s new documentary The Look of Silence.
A companion piece to Oppenheimer’s Oscar® and DGA-nominated film The Act of Killing, The Look of Silence is told through footage of the perpetrators of the 1965 Indonesian genocide and focuses on an optometrist named Adi who decides to do something unimaginable in a society where the murderers remain in power — confront the men who killed his brother and ask them to accept responsibility for their actions all while testing their eyesight.
The Look of Silence, premiered at the 71st Venice Film Festival where it won five awards including the Grand Jury Prize, the FIPRESCI Prize and the European film critics award, and has gone on to win more honors including the Audience Award at the 2015 SXSW Film Festival, and the Peace Film Award at the 2015 Berlin International Film Festival.
Following the DGA Special Projects Committee’s Documentary Series screening in Los Angeles on November 16, Oppenheimer discussed the making of the film in a conversation moderated by Director Doug Pray (Levitated Mass).
A recipient of a MacArthur Genius Grant, Joshua Oppenheimer made his feature film directorial debut with the 2014 DGA and Academy Award®-nominated documentary, The Act of Killing. The Look of Silence is his second feature film.