Drafthouse Films, the film distribution arm of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, announced today The Act Of Killing achieved the largest U.S. per theater average for a documentary release to date in 2013 with it’s exclusive opening at the Landmark Sunshine Cinemas in NYC this weekend. The Act of Killing opens in Los Angeles at the Nuart on July 26th and in DC at the Landmark E Street, with a national rollout to follow.

The award-winning documentary’s estimated per screen average of $28,067 puts the film’s initial weekend performance above other high-profile 2013 doc’s including 56 Up ($22,088 PTA), The Gatekeepers ($20,517 PTA), 20 Feet From Stardom ($18,199 PTA) and Koch ($17,598 PTA) and as reported by boxofficemojo.com, catapults the film within the top 15 per theater averages for docs since 1982. This opening is the 6th largest single screen opening for a documentary of all time.

The breakout documentary by first-time director Joshua Oppenheimer played in the largest house at the Landmark Sunshine Cinemas, with early pre-sale sell outs prompting the theater to add additional showtimes, which also subsequently sold out. The film, which The Village Voice calls “a masterpiece” and CNN says is “a radical development in the documentary form and as an explosive journalistic expose” is also one of the best reviewed films of the year with a current 98% Certified Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and an 89 Metacritic score.

“I am thrilled by the record-breaking opening of ACT OF KILLING,” said Drafthouse Films CEO Tim League. “When we acquired the film, the hope was to build awareness about the horrific unpunished crimes in Indonesia and bring about change. We are hopefully well on our way to accomplishing this mission.”

In The Act of Killing, the filmmakers examine a country where death squad leaders are celebrated as heroes, challenging them to reenact their real-life mass-killings in the style of the American movies they love. The hallucinatory result is a cinematic fever dream, an unsettling journey deep into the imaginations of mass-murderers and the shockingly banal regime of corruption and impunity they inhabit.

The Act Of Killing is available for theatrical bookings. Contact Sumyi Khong Antonson, VP of Marketing and Distribution at sumyi.antonson@drafthouse.com

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For more information on The Act Of Killing and Drafthouse Films:

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http://actofkilling.com

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About The Act Of Killing

In a country where killers are celebrated as heroes, the filmmakers challenge unrepentant death squad leaders to dramatize their role in genocide. The hallucinatory result is a cinematic fever dream, an unsettling journey deep into the imaginations of mass-murderers and the shockingly banal regime of corruption and impunity they inhabit.

About Joshua Oppenheimer, Director

Born 1974, Texas, USA. Joshua Oppenheimer has worked for over a decade with militias, death squads and their victims to explore the relationship between political violence and the public imagination. Educated at Harvard and Central St Martins, London, his award-winning films include The Globalization Tapes (2003, co-directed with Christine Cynn), The Entire History Of The Louisana Purchase (1998, Gold Hugo, Chicago Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival), These Places We’ve Learned To Call Home (1996, Gold Spire, San Francisco Film Festival) and numerous shorts. Oppenheimer is Senior Researcher on the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council’s Genocide and Genre project and has published widely on these themes. Oppenheimer is currently based in Copenhagen, Denmark.

About Drafthouse Films

Drafthouse Films, the film distribution arm of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, is a curated brand of provocative, visionary and artfully unusual films new and old from around the world. Following the earnestly simple motto of “sharing the films we love with widest audience possible,” Drafthouse Films debuted in 2010 with the theatrical release of Four Lions which was named of Time Magazine’s “Top 10 Films Of The Year.” The 2012 release slate includes the acclaimed Best Foreign Language Oscar®) Bullhead, the internationally celebrated Danish comedy Klown (currently slated for a Warner Bros/Todd Phillips produced US remake), Mads Brügger’s acclaimed provocative documentary The Ambassador, the 40th anniversary restoration of landmark Australian thriller Wake In Fright, and together with producing partners Magnolia Pictures and Timpson Films, the much-anticipated anthology horror film The ABC’s Of Death featuring 26 different directors that Fangoria calls, “a stunning roll call of some of the most exciting names in horror across the world.” Drafthouse Films distributes films theatrically, through home video, VOD and their direct-to-consumer platforms integrating into the ever-growing Alamo Drafthouse entertainment lifestyle brand, which along with the Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas includes: Mondo, the collectible art boutique; Fantastic Fest, the largest international genre film festival in the US; and the pop culture website Badass Digest.