THE LOOK OF SILENCE
by Joshua Oppenheimer
SYNOPSIS
The Look of Silence is Joshua Oppenheimer’s powerful companion piece to the Oscar®-nominated The Act of Killing. Through Oppenheimer’s footage of perpetrators of the 1965 Indonesian genocide, a family of survivors discovers how their son was murdered, as well as the identities of the killers. The documentary focuses on the youngest son, an optometrist named Adi, who decides to break the suffocating spell of submission and terror by doing something unimaginable in a society where the murderers remain in power: he confronts the men who killed his brother and, while testing their eyesight, asks them to accept responsibility for their actions. This unprecedented film initiates and bears witness to the collapse of fifty years of silence.
DETAILS
99 mins
2014
Denmark, Indonesia, Norway, Finland, UK
Indonesian, Javanese
TRAILER
CREDITS
Director: Joshua Oppenheimer
Co-director: Anonymous
Producer: Signe Byrge Sørensen
Executive Producers: Werner Herzog, Errol Morris, André Singer
Co-producers: Anonymous, Kaarle Aho, Torstein Grude, Bjarte Mørner Tveit
Produced by: Final Cut for Real ApS
Co-produced by: Anonymous, Making Movies Oy, Piraya Film
In association with: Spring Films Ltd
Director of Photography: Lars Skree
Editor: Niels Pagh Andersen
Sound Editor and Mix: Henrik Garnov
Assistant Directors: Anonymous, Anonymous, Anonymous, Anonymous, Anonymous
Developed with support of: Danish Film Institute, Danida
Produced with the support of: Danish Film Institute, Nordisk Film & TV Fond, Danida, Bertha BRITDOC, Finnish Film Foundation, The Freedom of Expression Foundation, Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program, Centre for Research and Education in Arts and Media - University of Westminster, Arts and Humanities Research Council UK
Produced in collaboration with: ZDF in collaboration with ARTE, DR K, NRK, YLE, VPRO, Vision Machine Film Project
BIOGRAPHY
DIRECTOR - JOSHUA OPPENHEIMER
Joshua Oppenheimer is a two-time Oscar® nominated film director born in the USA. His debut feature film, The Act of Killing (2014 Academy Award Nominee for Best Documentary), was named Film of the Year in the 2013 by the Guardian and the Sight and Sound Film Poll, and won 72 international awards, including a European Film Award, a BAFTA, an Asia Pacific Screen Award, a Berlinale Audience Award, and the Guardian Film Award for Best Film. His second film, The Look of Silence (2016 Academy Award Nominee for Best Documentary), premiered at the 71st Venice Film Festival, where it won five awards, including the Grand Jury Prize, the international critics award (FIPRESCI Prize) and the European film critics award (FEDEORA Prize). Since then, The Look of Silence has received 73 international awards, including an Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary, an International Documentary Association Award for Best Documentary, a Gotham Award for Best Documentary, and three Cinema Eye Honors. In 2015, Joshua Oppenheimer received a MacArthur Fellowship (popularly known as ’the genius grant’).
SELECT FESTIVALS & AWARDS
ACADEMY AWARD FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE NOMINEE 2016〡CINEMA EYE HONORS - OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTION & PRODUCTION 2016〡GOTHAM AWARDS 2015 - BEST DOCUMENTARY〡IDA AWARDS 2015 - BEST FEATURE DOCUMENTARY AWARD〡INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARDS 2015 - BEST DOCUMENTARY AWARD〡REALSCREEN 2015 - BEST DOCUMENTARY
VENICE FILM FESTIVAL 2014 - GRAND JURY PRIZE, HUMAN RIGHTS AWARD, FIPRESCI AWARD〡TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2014〡CPH:DOX 2014 - GRAND PRIZE DOX AWARD〡BERLIN FILM FESTIVAL 2015 - PEACE FILM PRIZE〡GOTEBORG 2015 - BEST NORDIC DOCUMENTARY AWARD〡BUSAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2014 - BEST WORLD DOCUMENTARY〡DOCS AGAINST GRAVITY 2015 - AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL AWARD〡DOCS BARCELONA 2015 - AUDIENCE & AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL AWARD〡DOCUMENTA MADRID 2015 - AUDIENCE AWARD〡MAKEDOX 2015 - BEST FILM AWARD〡MOVIES THAT MATTER 2015 - AUDIENCE AWARD〡NORDIC/DOCS 2015 - SPECIAL JURY PRIZE〡NORDISK PANORAMA 2015 - AUDIENCE AWARD〡NUREMBERG HUMAN RIGHTS FILM FESTIVAL 2015 - AWARD OF HONOR〡SHEFFIELD DOC FEST 2015 - AUDIENCE AWARD〡SXSW 2015 - AUDIENCE AWARD〡TROMSØ INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2015 - FICC AWARD & DON QUIXOTE PRIZE〡TRUE/FALSE 2015 - TRUE LIFE FUND AWARD〡VILNIUS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2015 - BEST DIRECTOR AWARD〡TELLURIDE 2015〡NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL 2015
PRESS
"The Look of Silence is profound, visionary, and stunning."
- Werner Herzog
"One of the greatest and most powerful documentaries ever made. A profound comment on the human condition."
- Errol Morris
★★★★★
"Stunning, unmissable"
- The Guardian
"First-rate... audacious..."
- IndieWire
"Profoundly shattering... powerfully lyrical"
- The Washington Post