Can Art Stop a Bullet: William Kelly's Big Picture

  • Documentary
12/1/2020
93

Storyline

The film documents the creation of Kelly’s monumental artwork “Peace or War/The Big Picture”. It is a tapestry of history and art, drawn from major artworks and photos from the defining conflicts of their times. This immense visual collage allows the audience to navigate through time and place, meeting survivors of these horrific moments in history and the artists who have created work commenting on these periods, some of which have become iconic. Through Kelly’s drawings, the audience is transported to the concentration camps of the Third Reich, the bombing of Hiroshima, “the troubles” in Ireland, the race riots in the US and Pol Pot’s Year Zero. Interwoven with archival footage of these cataclysmic events, the audience is invited to visit anti-war and anti-gun demonstrations today, events that call for similar injustices to be stopped. The film is a parallel work to Kelly’s masterpiece, unfolding to create the ‘Big Picture’ in documentary form.

Director:

Videos

Cast

Reviews

  • CASAB2021

    Melbourne Documentary Film Festival Review Can Art Stop a Bullet by TheFlemishSeth

    William Kelly, artist and peace activist, has been called the moral conscience of Australian Art. For him there's no line between life and art. Can Art Stop a Bullet is a documentary about the man himself and centered around an art piece he's making for the State Library of Victoria. The film explores the connections between art and activism and how imagery in their own way can change people's view on things happening in the world, their own lives and the lives of those around them. Kelly's art project will combine former pieces of his career and art that has inspired him throughout his life, in a collage of drawings that will tell a story of their o...

    February 19, 2021

Recommendations

Similar Movies