The Act of Killing is a new film from director Joshua Oppenheimer. The documentary follows the perpetrators of the failed Indonesian military coup of 1965, where over a million alleged communists were slaughtered in under a year, and it's fucking incredible. If you don't believe us, then take it from Werner Herzog, who said, "I haven't seen a film as powerful, surreal and frightening in at least a decade."The film mainly focuses on Anwar Congo, a former self-styled gangster and Hollywood buff who led a death squad after the coup and personally killed around 1,000 people, usually by strangling them with wire. He's now revered as a founding father of the right-wing paramilitary organisation Pemuda Pancasila, who regularly boast about having a hand in such admirable projects as election rigging and genocide. So he's not the best of guys, basically.In fact, not only do they boast, but – when asked by Oppenheimer – Congo and his contemporaries happily re-enact tortures they've carried out in the past, wearing Noir-style costumes and performing fake decapitations in cheap, gory makeup.We're holding a screening of The Act of Killing – the director's cut, no less – at the Hackney Picturehouse this Saturday, the 6th of July, at 5PM. The screening will be followed by a Q&A session with Oppenheimer, which is hosted by VICE's Head of Video, Al Brown. Oppenheimer will be discussing the obstructions he faced while trying to shoot the film in Indonesia and what it was like spending time with Anwar and his genocidal friends, and will be available to answer any of the questions you come up with after hours of extensive Wikipedia research.After receiving five star reviews from a bunch of broadsheets, all other London screenings of The Act of Killing are now sold out. There are only 100 seats available for this one, and the event is first come, first served, so go here as quick as you can if you want a chance to come along.This screening is run in conjunction with Tapol, an Indonesian Human Rights NGO founded by Carmel Budiardjo, who was a political prisoner under the regime that came to power in 1965 following the massacres. You can check out Tapol here.Read our feature about The Act of Killing here.
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