The Act of Killing
Documentary filmmaker Josh Oppenheimer began his research for The Act of Killing (2012) by interviewing family members of individuals who had been persecuted in the mass executions of accused communists in Indonesia. A friend and consultant suggested that these interviews might be putting his participants’ lives in danger and that perhaps he should instead interview the perpetrators of the violence who had never been prosecuted. He shifted his approach, and started working with the perpetrators, both as interview subjects and as co-producers of a (never-finished) fiction film. This shift opened up a new set of complex ethical decisions for Oppenheimer.