Last night The Act of Killing was announced as the winner of the 2013 PUMA Impact Award, at a ceremony held at the TimesCenter in New York City.
The PUMA Impact Award celebrates and supports the documentary film that has made the most significant positive impact on society or the environment each year. Director Joshua Oppenheimer, co-director Christine Cynn and producer Signe Byrge Sørensen were present to accept the award.
The shortlist of five documentaries also included Bully, Give Up Tomorrow, The Interrupters and The Invisible War, were judged by an independent jury representing the worlds of film, the arts, and social change including activist and actress Susan Sarandon, actor and director Gael García Bernal, Avaaz Executive Director Ricken Patel, American journalist and author Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation, Command and Control) and Zadie Smith, Orange Prize-winning author.
The Jury said of the winning film:
"The Act of Killing is a staggering and unique work of art that stands above time and place and will enrich and empower everyone who has the privilege to see it for many years to come. Its brave brilliance has already led to tremendous impact, almost single handedly opening the painful dialogue on Indonesia's genocide, which claimed over one million lives. As a film, it has the potential to change the genre, and as art, it resurrects the deep insight into our nature offered by the 'banality of evil'. In doing so, its impact moves well beyond Indonesia, providing a contribution to all humanity".
The Jury's Special Commendation went to The Invisible War, directed by Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering.