Synopsis
Artist William Kelly, widely considered the social conscience of Australian art, once said, “art can’t stop a bullet, but it can stop a bullet from being fired.”
Can it?
60 years ago there was the threat of nuclear confrontation, racial violence, sexual tensions, and a conflict in the Middle East. A coalition of Western powers led by the USA dropped thousands of bombs and civilians were the victims.
Today, nuclear warheads are being fired over Japan, stress, fear and terror around the world is escalating. It’s a time of civil wars, terrorist attacks, and of refugees in crisis, ethnic, religious and racial conflict.
Things have come full circle with assaults on human rights, social justice and free speech that attempt to crush the voices of journalists and artists. Circumstances that permeated both America and Australia in the past have returned. Forces that led to the rise of fascism and the fear that gripped the ‘Cold War’ era are now creating a chill again.
Kelly’s personal journey is from a poor, violent family life in New York State where he was in a gang as a youth, to receiving an Australian Violence Prevention Award from the Prime Minister and a Courage of Conscience award in the USA – an honor shared with Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa Parks, Muhammad Ali and John Lennon. This journey is the “back story” to the creation of art, by him and by others, that is powerful enough to effect change like Picasso’s “Guernica”.
While using his monumental artwork “Peace or War/The Big Picture” as its central theme, it explores the ideas and actions of those who have been part of Kelly’s journey from Nobel Prize winners to actor/activists such as Martin Sheen and photographer Nick Ut whose famous ‘Vietnam Napalm’ photo is credited with helping end the Vietnam War. Their discussions highlight the fact that we continue to make the same bad judgments over and over when we enter wars, and it gives us passionate insights into the views of artists who have taken a stand, and sometimes paid the price.
This documentary encompasses people, places and events from every continent - from Hiroshima survivors to Iranian musicians and indigenous artists in Australia. The film spans a dynamic social and historical landscape, and will feature music relevant to the times, from Neil Young, Midnight Oil, Ed Sheeran and others. They form the film’s soundscape with songs of protest and hope.
Kelly is credited with “redefining humanist art,” and is an internationally recognised and respected artist, but most importantly he is a peacemaker. “Peace or War/ The Big Picture” is the culmination of a life’s work and is unveiled at the magnificent State Library reading room in Melbourne before heading off overseas to hang in Guernica, Spain. It is William Kelly’s big picture in a literal sense and in a metaphorical one too.
The documentary is, indeed, about the big picture ... not just our past but our shared future. And it couldn’t be more timely.
“Right now, the world needs a film like William Kelly’s Big Picture” - Dr Rama Mani, University of Oxford.
What are we about?
“William Kelly’s Big Picture” will contribute to a discussion about world peace, as well as demonstrating the beauty and the power that artworks (visual, musical and performance art) have had impacting peace and human rights around the globe.
“Breaking the silence and speaking truth to power is the job of the film-maker, something that’s perhaps needed more today then ever before” - John Pilger, December 2017.
We hope to use the power of documentary film to assist existing advocacy organisations to get the message out via their networks and to educate students in schools and universities to reconsider attitudes to war and peace for the future of the world.
Screening/Distribution:
We hope to screen the documentary via traditional distribution channels – free-to-air television, cable channels, film festivals, DVD distribution and streaming via educational outlets etc.
But ultimately the biggest influence we can have is likely to come from partnering with existing peace and anti-war organizations, including:
- ICAN (International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons) which was founded in Melbourne and just received the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize
- IPPNW (International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War) which received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985
- MAPW (Medical Association for the Prevention of War)
- World Beyond War
- Global Campaign for Peace Education
- International Association of Peace Museums
- IPRA (International Peace Research Association)
- Just World Education
- Veterans for Peace (USA)
- Alliance for Global Justice
- Black Alliance for Peace (USA)
- Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (USA)
- CODEPINK
- Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space
- International Action Centre
- Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
- Popular Resistance
- United National Antiwar Coalition (US)
- US Peace Council
Contacts with some of these groups have already been made, and some we will be reaching out to for the first time with this appeal.
There are also film festivals internationally and other global communities that focus on the subject of peace, and these would be likely to screen the film once it is completed.
Education
Additional educational material will be available upon completion of the film for high school students, tertiary students, and other institutions or organizations.
“William Kelly’s Big Picture” is a tremendous educational resource that can be implemented across wide areas of the Australian education curriculum. The film is particularly valuable to secondary school Humanities teachers, seeking to engage middle school students in international relations and politics units of work, social justice and diversity content, and modern global history. The film’s engaging style offers students authentic content that that can help explain complex current issues, and their links to recent history, in an understandable and accessible way.
The film is also highly relevant to Arts students, particularly senior students, studying contemporary Australian art. The multi-modal study guide that will accompany the film is a helpful aid to teachers. The guide will have a series of lesson plans that could be used as an independent unit of work.
Several of the artists have expressed a willingness to support education through school visits, student forums, and incursions, in order to discuss the content of the film and the wider context in which art finds itself in the early 21st Century.
A book of the film is also in development.
Rewards
Here are some images of the rewards available. Details below.
