The Act of Killing treats the Indonesia killings of 1965-1966, engaging with the question of how and why individuals are able to commit atrocious acts. American filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer takes an unconventional approach to this deeply emotive subject, inviting unrepentant members of the Indonesian death squads to re-enact their crimes in front of the camera as though they were actors in a Hollywood action film. The result, The Act of Killing, is very surreal and often absurd. Ultimately, one of the most disturbing things about the film is the way it destabilizes our sense of the boundary between fictional violence and its real-world counterpart.

The film won at the 2012 Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival (CPH:DOX), and was a nominee at Cinema for Peace 2013. The China premiere of the film was held at UCCA on May 18, 2013. This is its second showing.