The final 72-hours in the life of Bali Nine's Myuran Sukumaran, who became an accomplished artist on death row before his execution by Indonesian firing squad in April 2015.
GUILTY takes us into the moment when Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, the 'Bali Nine' Australians, were executed in Indonesia. Approaching this moment through the aesthetic of his visual art practice, director Matthew Sleeth brings an intensely personal perspective, and this film is born of his experiences leading up to the executions of these two men, alongside six other prisoners. Matthew Sleeth ran art workshops inside Kerobokan Prison throughout Myuran Sukumaran's rehabilitation - creates an intimate, visceral portrait of Myuran during his last 72-hours. At the end of a life cut brutally short, Myuran created a series of incredible paintings. This film explores the extraordinary circumstances in which these works were created and Myuran's urgency to complete these final paintings. GUILTY presents Myuran's final days and his artworks that become a powerful argument against the death penalty.—Maggie Miles
GUILTY takes us into the moment when 'Bali Nine' drug smuggler Myuran Sukumaran is executed by firing squad in Indonesia. Approaching this moment through the aesthetic of his visual art practice, director Matthew Sleeth brings an intensely personal perspective, and this film is born of his experiences leading up to Myuran's execution. Matthew Sleeth, who ran art workshops inside Kerobokan Prison throughout Myuran Sukumaran's rehabilitation - creates an intimate, visceral portrait of Myuran during his last days. The film highlights the last 72 hours of his life, when he created some of his most powerful paintings and contrasts the state's clinical preparations for capital punishment with the clarity this brings; that alongside his deep feelings of guilt about the horror his family was going through, was the understanding that he was flourishing as an artist as he completed these final paintings. Myuran was executed in April 2015 alongside seven other prisoners, including fellow 'Bali Nine' inmate Andrew Chan and we experience the machinery of death moving Myuran towards his execution; the signing of his own death warrant; saying goodbye to his family; and facing the 12 marksmen who will end his life, with the brutality of capital punishment brought into sharp focus by the optimism of Myuran painting on death row. GUILTY explores the extraordinary circumstances in which these artworks were made, blending narrative sequences with archival material to create a deeply personal story of grief, art and redemption.
