Femicide hanging around "questionable" areas such as discotecas or nightclubs. Since 2000, more than five thousand women and girls have been brutally murdered in Guatemala. Guatemala's historical record reveals a long history of acceptance of gendered violence and the military government's and judiciary's role in normalizing misogyny. In a Report on the Violations of Women's Rights in Guatemala by a United Nations Human Rights Committee, the state's failure to enforce laws protecting women from femicide is seen as highly problematic. The report argues that enforcing laws against murder of women is a low priority of state governments because of patriarchal beliefs
The Act of Killing those involved with the killings, Oppenheimer's interviews led him to meet Anwar Congo in 2005. The film was shot mostly in Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia, between 2005 and 2011. After seeing an early preview of "The Act of Killing", filmmakers Werner Herzog and Errol Morris signed on as executive producers. The name "Anonymous" appears 49 times under 27 different crew positions in the credits. These crew members still fear revenge from the death-squad killers. Coinciding with the release of the film's director's cut in 2013, a free BitTorrent Bundle of behind the scenes content was uploaded to the internet by