Today is the final day of the 2015 True Life Fund. We are still $758 away from are goal of sending Adi Rukun $35,000 to say thank you for creating and sharing the incredible story captured in The Look of Silence. Adi will be using the money to open a brick-and-mortar optometry business in his new community, a major city where the men the film offended have little to no authority.

Please consider joining us in thanking this man for his courageous confrontation of his brother’s killers and donate here.

On this final say of the True Life Fund we wanted to talk about education, which is the future of this story and this film. In Indonesia, important work is now beginning to use the film to encourage historians and educators to revise the history curriculum surrounding the genocidal anti-communist purges of 1965-66. This is an ongoing project still in its infancy, one in which Adi will be playing an important role.

In the U.S., The Look of Silence has yet to be released theatrically and fully celebrated as a work of art, something which will happen later this year. Yet ultimately, we feel confident that this film will play an important role in education in America too. The killing in Indonesia in 1965-66 is a forgotten and ignored period of history, and the role our government played in the horrors there has never been fully acknowledged. Moreover, as a profound examination of our capacity as a species for this sort of violence and the ways in which we live with ourselves in its aftermath, The Look of Silence will have much to teach us about ourselves for years to come.  

We are proud to have played an early role in this future history. During his trip to Columbia, director Joshua Oppenheimer visited all four area high schools, Douglas, Rock Bridge, Battle and Hickman. He shared scenes from the film, explained how he created/captured this story and took questions one on one. These high schools also helped raise thousands of dollars for the TLF and Adi.

In a different educational context, Joshua visited The Crossing, the local church with whom for many years now we’ve developed an unusual partnership to support the True Life Fund. In the video below you can see Joshua in conversation with The Crossing pastor Dave Cover about the film and its far-reaching implications.

This ongoing work is all made possible by Adi and his amazing acts of bravery in confronting the men who killed his brother and so many others. Today is the last day you can join us in saying thank you.