A still from the film Tending to Ta

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(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

Listen to…

Creator April Lin 林森 talk about (Tending) (to) (Ta) in our Audio Programme, Before the Applause - available wherever you get your podcasts.

Read Response

Longing for the homelands of our imagination

A Response to (Tending) (to) (Ta), written by Asyia Iftikhar