40 Years of Silence: An Indonesian Tragedy 2009

500,000 to 1,000,000 people were killed in Indonesia. The world looked away. 40 years later, four families break the silence.

Directed by Robert Lemelson

In one of the largest unknown mass-killings of the 20th cen­tury, an esti­mated 500,000 to 1,000,000 Indone­sians were killed in 1965 when Gen­eral Suharto began a purge of sus­pected “com­mu­nists” through a com­plex and highly con­tested series of events–ultimately lead­ing him to the presidency. 40 Years of Silence: An Indone­sian Tragedy fol­lows the com­pelling tes­ti­monies of four indi­vid­u­als and their fam­i­lies, as they break the silence with an inti­mate look at what it was like for sur­vivors dur­ing Suharto’s New Order regime.