The Act of Killing

In association with the Centre for Applied Human Rights at the University of York, we are delighted to welcome director Joshua Oppenheimer for a Q&A following this screening.

Following the Indonesian military coup of 1965, paramilitaries helped the army to massacre more than a million alleged communists in less than a year. To this day, these shocking acts are portrayed domestically as a patriotic struggle, and their perpetrators are celebrated as national heroes. Documentarist Oppenheimer’s attempts to tell the tale of the genocide’s survivors were obstructed by the Indonesian authorities – but the killers themselves proved happy to appear on film. He invited the perpetrators to stage filmed re-enactments of their killings, with a twist: they would be performed in the style of their favourite Hollywood genre films. In this extended director’s cut, these astonishing scenes are afforded even greater gravity. The incredible result is a hallucinatory journey into the minds of mass killers, and a staggering testament to the frighteningly banal culture of impunity they continue to inhabit.

"I have not seen a film as powerful, surreal and frightening in at least a decade." – Werner Herzog 

This extended cut of the film is presented by Dr Alice Nah of the Centre for Applied Human Rights at the University of York, and City Screen welcomes Oppenheimer, the Director, to take questions after the film.

The film recently won best picture at the Toronto and Sheffield International Film Festivals, and it has been reviewed recently with 5 stars in the Guardian.

More information is provided online through Picturehouse website.  

It would be wonderful if you could come along to see the film and to meet the director. See you there!