78 Quotes by Joshua Oppenheimer

We can never run away from our past. The past will catch up to us because it is us. It is a part of us; it's what makes us we are. It's what delineates the borders of our societies.

There are committed Indonesian filmmakers who are committed supporters of 'The Act Of Killing.'

The function of journalism is, primarily, to uncover vital new information in the public interest and to put that information in a context so that we can use it to improve the human condition.

I think fundamentally, I had to make a decision really on whether this was a film about the past or the present. And 'The Act Of Killing' is a film about the present.

I think that indignation is pleasurable, and it's pleasurable because it's self-righteous.

In Denmark, the annual Christmas party is probably the most important cultural institution in the country.

I think 'The Act of Killing' forced people to look at the problem, but the problem is actually a state run by thugs, or a shadow state, a part of the state that's run by thugs, and a military that enjoys complete legal - not just impunity, but immunity.

I think Americans are aware that they are involved in all sorts of violence around the world. They normally don't want to look at that.

I came across the Indonesian genocide in 2001, when I found myself making a film in a community of survivors. They were plantation workers, and it turned out they were struggling to organize a union.