The Act of Killing has won the Best Documentary prize at the 2014 BAFTA Film Awards.
The film follows a group of former Indonesian death squad leaders as they reenact their 1965-66 mass killings of around one million suspected Communists for a fantasy film that includes classic Hollywood crime scenarios and lavish musical numbers.
In his acceptance speech at the ceremony in London on February 16, director Joshua Oppenheimer said that the film “is helping to catalyse a change in how Indonesia talks about its past”, with the media and the public talking openly without fear about “the moral catastrophe” of the genocide in Indonesia. He also thanked his Indonesian crew and co-director, who remain anonymous for their own safety.
The Armstrong Lie, Blackfish, Tim’s Vermeer and We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks were the other documentaries nominated for the BAFTA category.
The Act of Killing has also been nominated for an Academy Award. The winners will be announced at the 86th Annual Academy Awards in a live ceremony on March 2.
