Welcome to Babel was written, directed and produced by James Bradley, and it’s his first full-length feature as a director, following a couple of shorts. But he has been best known to date as an editor, with credits going back to 1998’s Radiance and beyond. Significantly for this film, he also edited the TV series Art and Soul, and the doco Audrey Napanangka in 2022, so he has many runs on the board when it comes to presenting the work of visual artists in a compelling way.
Welcome to Babel tells the fascinating story of the artist couple Jia Wei Shen and Lan Wang, focusing mainly on the former’s quest to create the polyptych painting Tower of Babel. An immense and truly breathtaking project, it entails the artist creating his own personal Guernica, if you will, four huge panels – 130 square metres worth – covered in faces and references to other great works of art to tell the story of 20th century international communism.
While Shen works on his, literally, magnum opus, the film also reveals the couple’s very different experiences of growing up in China, living through the Cultural Revolution, and how and why they made the move to Australia. There is some excellent archive footage and photography and the film manages to do a good job of succinctly explaining China’s recent history on the macro scale, as well as how it impacted this artistic couple.
It’s screening in selected cinemas across Australia and really well worth seeking out if you possibly can. It’s rated PG and runs for 99 minutes. Some Mandarin language. English subtitles.
Welcome to Babel
Director: James Bradley
Producer: Graeme Isaac, James Bradley
Executive Producer: Andrew Myer
Featuring: Jiawei Shen, Lan Wang
Welcome to Babel is screening now at Dendy Newtown, Hayden Orpheum Cremorne (NSW), Cinema Nova (Vic) Dendy Coorparoo, Dendy Southport, Sydney Travelling Film Festival (Qld), Capital Film Festival Canberra, Dendy Canberra (ACT) and with screenings to be confirmed in Tas, NT, WA and SA.
