All Films / Symbiosis / (Tending) (to) (Ta)

(Tending) (to) (Ta)

UK / 2021 / 1h 6m / Scottish Premiere / English & Mandarin

In-Person: Sat 24 June / 19:00 BST

Online: 23 - 29 June

April Lin 林森 presents a dream-like journey across parallel dimensions in their speculative film that imagines a world without capitalism.

One protagonist grapples with the reality of living in a capitalist world lacking in meaning. The other, living in a utopian world guided by cosmic entity Ta, reveals the possibilities of a life unbound by Western constructs of race, gender and class. The film’s title comes from ‘tā’, the monosyllabic sound which, in Mandarin, encompasses all third person pronouns: 他 (third person male), 她 (third person female), and 它 (more-than-human lifeforms and objects). As these multiple genders and modes of being are all pronounced ‘tā’, the word ‘ta’ has in recent years been reconfigured and adopted as a gender neutral pronoun. Communicating through a series of letters, the protagonists must face the realities of each others’ dimensions, shaking their understanding of their own world in the process.

Writing, Direction, Cinematography and Editing by April Lin 林森
Assistant Producer: Obsidian Coast
Drone Operator: Sam Smith
Production Design: Puer Deorum
Costume Design: Puer Deorum
Production Assistant: Germane Marvel
Set Ceramics: Leda Yang
Assistant Production Designer: FeelBreezee
Hair Colourist: Sophie MacCorquodale
Composer: Valeria Radchenko
Title Illustration: Sai Tripathi
Song: The Arrow of the Deity of Love 愛神的箭 by Zhou Xuan 周璇
Samiir Saunders
Puer Deorum
Clarinda Tse
Chantel Foo as Voice of Meditation Guide
April Lin 林森 as Voice of Ta
Much gratitude for your words of guidance: Amalie Smed Dawids, Chantel Foo, Himali Singh Soin, Jonelle Twum , Nella Aarne, Nicky Chue, Sam Smith, The Moving Image Group, Toto Roomi
Special thanks to: Deen Atger, Gilbert, Sea Life Centre London Aquarium
Commissioned by Obsidian Coast
Lastly, a big dose of appreciation for all the leaves, branches, vines, stems, flowers, trunks, tussocks, roots, seeds, rocks, cliffs, streams, muds, raindrops, winds, almonds, jellyfish, sharks, and maggots for their crucial participation in this work.
This film is dedicated to all of us who have had very Real Relationships with Imagined Selves, Imagined Others, and Imagined Worlds.
Captions by Sarya Wu
British Sign Language by Grace Buckle
BSL Editing by Tao-Anas Le Thanh
Audio Descriptions provided by the International Digital Centre