A follow-up to the acclaimed documentary 'The Act of Killing', made by the same American director and Danish producer, has won a prestigious award at the 71st Venice International Film Festival.
Like 'The Act of Killing', Copenhagen-based Joshua Oppenheimer's 'The Look of Silence' deals with the Indonesian genocide, but this time from the perspective of its victims not its perpetrators.
And on Saturday at the festival's closing ceremony, Danish producer Signe Byrge Sørensen and Oppenheimer walked away with the Grand Jury Prize.
Morally complex, exquisitely crafted
‘The Look of Silence’ is the story of a young man, Adi, who survives the genocide in Indonesia and searches for the men who killed his brother.
In the film's key scenes, we see Adi questioning the perpetrators about the past while he’s measuring their eyesight with optical lenses.
"I had this feeling we were entering totally uncharted waters," Oppenheimer told FILM magazine.
"I can't think of another film in which a survivor of political violence, or a relative of a victim, confronts a perpetrator while the perpetrators are still in power."
