40 Years of Silence

Editor

Dir: Robert Lemelson
Prod: Robert Lemelson, Alessandra Pasquino
Supervising Editor: Pietro Scalia

Elemental Productions

About the Process: The mass killings in Indonesia in 1965 were largely ignored by the world and celebrated by the killers. The repression of violence led to more violence; passed down through generations.  There were many stories and characters to choose from, but to emphasize this lesson we decided to centered the structure of the film around a young boy named Budi, born in the 90s, who's father was a political prisoner.  The film cuts back and forth between Budi in present day and four other survivor storylines as they reflect on the past 40 years.  The challenge was to interweave these characters in a way that the history was understood (to an audience with largely no knowledge of these events) and the emotional journey of Budi matched the emotional journey of the survivors."