On the Act of Looking

Reading Joshua Oppenheimer’s Diptych: The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence

Rex Butler (Anthology Editor) , David Denny (Anthology Editor)

On the Act of Looking

Reading Joshua Oppenheimer’s Diptych: The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence

Rex Butler (Anthology Editor) , David Denny (Anthology Editor)

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Description

This collection analyzes Joshua Oppenheimer's diptych The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence as a cinematic event that invites interrelated questions on historical memory, truth and reconciliation, and the limits of documentary filmmaking.

On the Act of Looking affirms Oppenheimer's use of fiction and manipulation as a technique to expose, contrary to the classic documentary form, not so much a reality behind the appearance of things, but how appearance as such can become a site of intervention or truth-telling. Contributors to this collection, including film scholars, art historians, historians, political scientists, philosophers, and Indonesian human rights activists, answer why Oppenheimer's documentary films not only have received near universal praise and admiration, but also why this praise is often qualified by surprise and fascination.

1. Introduction: The Look of Silence at the Act of Killing
Rex Butler (Monash University, Australia)
2. An Interview with Putu Oka Sukanta and Galuh Wandita
Rex Butler (Monash University, Australia) and David Denny (teacher of Philosophy, USA)
3. Thinking of Joshua for My Country, Indonesia
Martin Aleida (Journalist, Indonesia)
4. A Conversation about The Act of Killing
Niels Pagh Anderson (Norwegian National Film School, Norway) and Joshua Oppenheimer (Film Director, Denmark)
5. A Conversation about The Look of Silence
Niels Pagh Anderson (Norwegian National Film School, Norway) and Joshua Oppenheimer (Film Director, Denmark)
6. The Presence and Absence of History in The Act of Killing
John Roosa (University of British Columbia, Canada)
7. The Act of Killing, The Look of Silence: Movies against the Politics of Stigma
Asep Topan (Independent Scholar, Australia)
8. Performance and Human Rights in Joshua Oppenheimer's The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence
Alexandra S. Moore (Binghamton University, USA)
9. Joshua Oppenheimer's Provocation and its Reception
Iqra Anugrah (University of Turin, Italy)
10. All That is Spectral Made into Solid: Watching The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence as Ghost Stories
Tito Ambyo (RMIT University, Australia)
11. The Historical Situation: Oppenheimer's Metacinema in the Context of Documentary Traditions
David LaRocca (Author and Filmmaker, USA)
12. The Truth of Atrocity: The Act of Killing, The Look of Silence and Fantasmatic Violence
Hilary Neroni (University of Vermont, USA)
13. The Discourse of the Analyst: A Reading of The Act of Killing
David Denny (teacher of Philosophy, USA)
14. Conclusion: On Forgiveness for Acts of Killing
Rex Butler (Monash University, Australia)

Index

Product details

Published	Feb 19 2026
Format	Hardback
Edition	1st
Extent	240
ISBN	9781501347900
Imprint	Bloomsbury Academic
Illustrations	16 bw illus
Dimensions	9 x 6 inches
Publisher	Bloomsbury Publishing