Melbourne Documentary Film Festival – Can Art Stop a Bullet: William Kelly's Big Picture
Can art stop a bullet?
Interview with Director Mark Street
Watch Can Art Stop a Bullet: William Kelly's Big Picture on Kanopy
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
The film is about the Human Rights artist/activist William Kelly who had just completed his largest work "Peace or War/the Big Picture". The work displays stories covering the artist's entire life and yet was incredibly relevant to what is happening around the world today. Kelly is an inspirational character, as are all those he collaborates with. This film is a testament to his life's work in advocating for peace through art.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
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? The film explores that question by talking to artists and academics around the world like Martin Sheen and Professor A C Grayling, John Keane and Nick Ut. We look at the power of art through history to influence the thoughts and actions against war and violence. For example, Picasso's Guernica is often referred to as the most recognisable anti-war painting ever and Nick Ut's "Vietnam Napalm" photograph is credited with helping end the war in Vietnam. The film takes the viewer through a history of humanity’s worst excesses and most depraved acts of violence, all executed through the prism of the artwork central to the film – the eponymous Big Picture.
The film is accessible to viewers far removed from the sphere of art theory, or even any knowledge of Kelly or his portfolio. It explores far greater questions of human nature.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
The film is predominantly the voice of the artist William Kelly and we examine his personal life against a background of war, poverty and racial conflict. Kelly takes us on an intriguing journey through the history of violence and a study of the human condition through his artwork the"Big Picture".
In Kelly’s eyes, the core ability of artists is to show the world as it is and cement their duty as proponents of peace. It is the reason that war-machine governments often feel threatened by artists, which is another key theme of his works. This is the power of art that Kelly frequently references in the film – to serve as a philosophical bulwark, or even an inoculation, to bloodshed.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
The basic concept of the film is to show the making of Kelly's Big Picture by exploring the themes of the images within that artwork. Those images could take us to many different places so the hard part was deciding which ones to focus on and which ones to leave out. At first, we looked at people who had collaborated with Kelly in the past and then we expanded to include those whose work and themes were akin to Kelly's. The list of potential interviewees was gradually reduced before shooting and then some didn't make the final cut. There was so much material that the subject matter could have been developed into a series. After nine months of editing, we managed to get it into a feature-length film which still included the human story of the artist.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
Feedback has been incredibly positive. "Thought-provoking" and "powerful" are the sorts of comments we've been getting.
"It’s amazing. Very moving. I love the idea of elaborating ideas, stories, people, from selecting pieces of the mural. The film itself is a humanist art piece, with an enormous work behind. Congratulations.”
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
We are especially happy with comments from younger viewers who feel changed by watching the film and want to go forward in a more constructive, creative way. What more could you hope for?
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
We Are Moving Stories seems like such a great idea that you wonder why it hasn't been around forever. Glad that it is now.
We hope to grow our audience obviously but also to contribute to the greater library of documentaries from around the world that help inspire us.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
We have distributors for TV, cinema, and online and would very keen to get more interest in the film in terms of sales. The film is doing the festival circuit at the moment. Love to get journalist comments. Education would be an important area to enable us to access younger viewers.
We also have a 55-minute version.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
“Breaking the silence and speaking truth to power is the job of the film-maker, something that’s perhaps needed more today than 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 peace for the future of the world.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
Can art stop a bullet? Has it? Will it? And where do we go from here?
Would you like to add anything else?
The film has been invited to screen at the United Nations in Geneva. The screening date has been postponed due to the COVID19 pandemic.
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
Producer Fiona Cochrane is always in production on one or more documentaries. An unstoppable force, she is researching a film about Obstetric Fistula in Uganda.
There is also some potential for a film about ICAN, International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear weapons. Nobel prize winners 2017.
Interview: June 2020
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
Can Art Stop a Bullet: William Kelly's Big Picture
Can art stop a bullet?
Length: 1:33:33
Director: Mark Street
Producer: Fiona Cochrane
Writer: Mark Street
About the writer, director and producer:
MARK STREET has worked in the film/TV industry for 30 years mainly as an editor and sound designer at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. More recently, he has independently produced/directed films about art and artists. Can Art Stop a Bullet is his first feature-length Documentary and has taken three years to make. The shooting took place in Asia, Europe and the United States. He was also the principal cinematographer on the film. Mark researched and wrote the film in close collaboration with the subject William Kelly. The script evolved organically during the production and was completed after the shooting finished.
For the last 10 years, FIONA COCHRANE has been directing and producing both dramas and documentaries. Her most recent films are the feature-length music documentary Joe Camilleri: Australia’s Maltese Falcon in 2011, a 50 minute personal documentary All In Her Stride in 2014, and feature documentary Women Are The Answer in 2015. All of her films have screened internationally at numerous festivals and won an array of awards.
Key cast: William Kelly, Martin Sheen, Professor A.C.Grayling, Nick Ut
Looking for: buyers
Facebook: William Kelly's Big Picture: the film
Website: www.kellysbigpicture.com
Other: IMDb
Made in association with: F-Reel Film and TV
Funders: Documentary Australia Foundation.
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? Melbourne Documentary Festival/Online 30 June-15 July; FAN FORCE TV online screenings in August and September 16-20; International Peace Museum conference, Kyoto, Japan; APOX film festival, Croatia 2-5 October.