some insights from talk with Joshua Oppenheimer

I was lucky to catch a discussion with Joshua Oppenheimer in Vancouver  before a screening of The Look of Silence. Along with its precursor The Act of Killing, these two films are staggering companion pieces, must-sees that are having very real impacts on filmmakers, politicians, societies, etc. For in-depth pieces, try this one from The Atlantic, or this one from The Independent. 
Since most who attended the talk are involved in filmmaking, he indulged our curiosity about the particulars of his process and techniques. Here are a few highlights :

- he films critical scenes with multiple cameras, to be sure to capture what cannot be repeated. 
- Anwar, the protagonist in The Act of Killing, was the 41st perpetrator interviewed by Joshua, and they only met 3-4 years into filming. 
- the re-enactment scenes in The Act of Killing always ended the day because they were so emotionally depleting for everyone involved.
-  The director's cut (in this case the original cut) for The Act of Killing is about 44 minutes longer than the U.S. theatrical cut (which is widely distributed on platforms like Netflix). Oppenheimer compared some scenes from the 2 cuts, reminding us how much the edit changes our reading.

• For example there are fewer silences in the theatrical cut, fewer chances to wonder 'what are they thinking? what am I  thinking?''
• In the original cut, there is a scene that shows the appalling propaganda film Pengkhianatan G30S/PKI  that children were subjected to every year. In the theatrical cut they only refer to it here and there, subtly (see photo below for an example).
• In the noir scene, we only see Anwar playing the victim, but in the director's cut he plays the murderer first, and then lounges in the greenroom before playing the victim, allowing us to see that he already feels self-pity before playing the victim. He already feels like a victim, blames the victim for making him commit those acts of torture. That's a big difference. In the theatrical version, one might think he looks sad because he is finally empathizing with his former victims, but it's not so simple. 

the photos on the mirrors are stills from the propaganda film Pengkhianatan G30S/PKI, which Anwar and Adi are referencing for their makeup in their own film.