An absorbing documentary about Chinese-Australian artist Jiawei Shen’s plans to create an epic work depicting his homeland’s tumultuous recent history.
Jiawei Shen is an obsessive, determined man. But his latest project – ‘Tower of Babel’ – is crazy even for him (at least according to his wife, fellow artist Lan Wang). His goal is to create a monumental painting of the turbulent history of the international Communist movement. It will take him years to complete, and the work is three storeys high, so he decides to build a new house and studio near his old Bundeena home. We learn about his fame in China through the story of his life: growing up in Mao’s China, surviving the Cultural Revolution, emigrating to Australia, and winning the 2006 Sir John Sulman Prize. Director James Bradley has previously edited several SFF-selected titles (including Finke: There and Back, SFF 2018). In his feature-length debut, he has crafted a miniature epic as ambitious as his subject.