His new documentary, White Light, is the culmination of 18 months spent in Englewood - known as "Chi-raq" to locals. Gittoes said has experienced nearly twice the amount of civilian gun deaths than the number of US soldiers that have died in Iraq between 2003 and 2018.

"I'm expecting to be in a lot of trouble," he told Weekender.

"But the film will be a thorn in the side of America. Americans don't like internal criticism, let alone a foreign Australian coming and having a go."

Like his previous documentaries Soundtrack to War, Rampage, Love City Jalalabad and Snow Monkey, Gittoes risked his life so he could share a story with the world.

Gittoes - the director, screenwriter and producer of the film - documents the horror and tragedy of the African-American community of May Block, where "there are no sides" but people trying to survive another day without being shot or hit in crossfire.

He said it's a cycle of never-ending violence in Englewood, where many residents hold a 'kill or be killed' mentality.

"For once in my life I felt we were punching well above our weight," Gittoes said.

"There was one time in a 24-hour period that there was crime scene tape put up for a gunshot death in four spots near where our apartment was.

"So within 50 metres of our actual apartment there had been four people killed in separate incidents."

With his partner Helen Rose and small film crew they immerse themselves into civilian life and document the young victims - such as Prince of the Streets, Solja, and Kaylyn, a "guardian angel" who watches out for her hood from the grave.

The film shines a light on gun violence in the nation and will have its world premiere at the Sydney Film Festival in June. It has been nominated for the Documentary Australia Foundation Award.

"It's always been dangerous doing the work that I do, but I'm George Gittoes, there's always been an element of risk in everything I do," he said.

"I'm almost less frightened about risking my life on the streets of Baghdad or Rwanda or Bosnia or South Side Chicago than I am being attacked by the invisible kind of things like the NRA, the organisations.

"I'm always much happier to be dodging bullets than dodging subpoenas."

White Light will then travel to the Melbourne International Film Festival. It will then have its global debut at the Chicago Film Festival in October despite fears of persecution.

"White people and the police in Chicago are going to hate it," Gittoes said.

"I'm expecting the [National Rifle Association] to come down on me like a tonne of bricks. They're going to try and find reasons they can sue me and destroy me."

The film also highlights the issues of unnecessary gun violence by authorities as well as mass shootings that continue to occur in America.

"Since the Port Arthur massacre there has been no mass shooting in Australia and I'm really proud to fly the Australian flag in our film," he said.

Rose, who co-produced the film, also described the fear she - and other women in the community - felt if they walked the streets alone.

"It was a very tough time in Chicago and very tough to see the full extent of what 'the right to bear arms' - the second amendment - has done to that country," she said.

Unfortunately it is far too well-known that fatalities from firearms is a common occurrence in the US.

Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Wonder database (US) show in 2017, 39,773 Americans lost their lives at the point of a gun. This was up by more than 1000 from the year before, making 2017 the highest rate of firearm deaths since the mid-1990s.

In Australia the numbers are much less and in decline: there were 274 gun deaths in 2016 compared to 614 in 1990.

Other research recently released from the Jama Network found the US was up there with war torn countries like Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Guatemala and Mexico - the group accounting for just over half of all the world's gun deaths in 2016.

This week, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern condemned the nation for not addressing the issue of gun-related violence and deaths, after announcing her own country would be tightening their firearm laws in the wake of the Christchurch massacre.

"Australia experienced a massacre and changed their laws. New Zealand had its experience and changed its laws. To be honest with you, I do not understand the United States," she told CNN.

"We will continue to be a food producing nation which deals with animal welfare issues and so on - it has a practical purpose and use for guns - but you can draw a line and say that does not mean you need access to military style semi automatic weapons and assault rifles."

Rather than booking meetings with American politicians or policy makers, Gittoes is crusading for community change.

He has joined forces with anti-gun campaigners like Jesse Jackson and Saint Sabina church Pastor Michael Pfleger to create a moratorium, which he believes to be more powerful.

"It's a film designed to be seen by the world, but particularly by Chicago," Gittoes said.

"What we're hoping ... is have the community itself work towards that goal [of zero gun deaths]. Then maybe everyone can say 'it's time for the cycle of violence to end'."

It's not his intention to depress theatre-goers. On the contrary, he wants to inspire and show there are solutions, while making a platform for voices to finally be heard.

His next project will be to a return to Englewood to film the sequel, and follow the campaign to end the violence.

White Light will have its Australian premiere at Event Cinemas on George Street in Sydney, on Friday June 7. It will again screen at the Dendy in Newtown on June 8.

The Documentary Australia Foundation Award winner will be announced on the closing ceremony of the film festival at the State Theatre on June 16.

More details are at www.sff.org.au