The Danish documentary ”The Act of Killing” continues to impress and and Joshua Oppenheimer now receives award in Myanmar.
The critically acclaimed documentary tells the story of the 1965 purges in Indonesia and is produced by Signe Byrge Sørensen from the Danish film company Final Cut for Real.
The film received the Aung San Suu Kyi Award, which was presented by the Burmese opposition leader herself.
The award was given last week on Aung San Suu Kyi’s birthday at the Human Rights Human Dignity Film Festival in Yangôn. The festival was created to increase awareness of human rights in the country. The festival’s committee was happy to present the award to the Danish film, which was described as an extremely relevant film for Myanmar.
In “The Act of Killing,” the unpunished Medan-based men act out their state-sponsored crimes in a variety of film genres, describing their roles unapologetically, and with an honesty that the Indonesian government has not yet been willing to show. Estimates put the number of those killed in the purges at anywhere from 500,000 to two million people, at a tumultuous time in the country’s history.
