Jetty Flicks- Welcome to Babel

D. James Bradley | 2024 | Australia, China | Documentary

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.

In his feature-length debut, Director James Bradley has crafted a miniature epic as ambitious as his subject.