Tender: Diamond Tat - Marrow (2024)
Tender - Four films by CuriousWorks
•
7m 39s
Tender reveals the nuances and tender sides of the communities of Western Sydney through four individual but interconnected documentary films by multidisciplinary artists.
Diamond Tat’s poetic film, Marrow is a cinematic ode to womanhood, both in its silent volatility and profound gentleness. Inspired by the artist's own immigration experience, alongside her mother, the film delves deep into the emotional terrain of uprooting and letting go, tearing down and rebuilding, navigating the delicate balance between past and present, self and other.
Through a series of poetic movements, the film traces a mother and her footsteps as she navigates the liminal spaces between belonging and estrangement, longing for the familiarity of home while embracing the promise of the unknown.
Weaving together its haunting score and poetic imagery, Marrow invites the viewer to bear witness to the silent struggles and triumphs of motherhood and womanhood, to celebrate the quiet strength and profound gentleness that defines the essence of femininity.
At its core, Marrow is a meditation on the resilience of the human spirit, a testament to the enduring power of sacrifice, strength, integrity and gentleness in shaping individual, generational and collective identities.
Creative credits
Director
Diamond Tat
Writer
Diamond Tat
Producer
CuriousWorks
Choreographer & Movement Artist
Vivian Tran
DOP
Diamond Tat
Assistant Director + art assitant
Matilda Dickinson
DIT
Sebastian Reategui
B-Cam Operator/Camera Assistant
Diego Murillo, CuriousWorks
Gaffer
Lucky Chen
Lighting Assistant
Diego Murillo, CuriousWorks
Set Builder
Antony Youssef
Pyro Technician
Amanda Le
BTS Photographer
Ammar Gulambar Jamal
Editor
Reggie Azwar
Colourist
Diamond Tat
Sebastian Reategui
Reggie Azwar
Composer and Sound designer
Kat Azwar
Designer/Typographer
Huy Nguyen
Creative and Technical Director
Elias Nohra
Production manager
Samantha Barahona, CuriousWorks
Production Consultant
Miranda Aguilar, CuriousWorks
Communications Officer
Jenny Trinh, CuriousWorks
Special thanks
Tender Artists: Mohammad Awad, Carielyn Tunion & Sharon Mani
Supporter
Tyron Seeto
Emily Borghi
Mothership Studios
Maxedoutfilms
The Azwar family
This work was produced by Curiousworks, under the creative and technical direction of Elias Nohra. It was commissioned by Sydney Opera House and supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW.
Diamond Tat (she/her) is a visual artist practicing storytelling through filmmaking and cinematography. Trained in Media Arts production in Sydney, she works across multiple genres e.g, narrative, documentary, music and art installation She is deeply interested in human-focused stories that explore the vast and rich human experience. Inspired by her upbringing in a mix-cultured environment, influenced by Chinese, Vietnamese and French cultures, she holds a deep interest in ideas of identities emerging, merging and shifting through time and space.
In her previous works and collaborations with a peer filmmaker - Baro Lee: Bimok (2022) and Hiruaerak (2019), Diamond explores aspects of navigating challenging and ever-shifting identities through grief and love. With her collaboration with Huy Nguyen in Minh Exhibition (2023) for Fairfield Museum, she once again has the chance to explore her family’s immigration experience like forging identities and quiet perseverance.
In informing and training her technical skills, Diamond works within the camera and video department across a few sectors in the industry: studio feature-length narrative e.g, Thor: Love and Thunder (dir. Taika Waititi) and TV-series drama e.g, ABC’s Soundtrack to Our Teenage Zombie Apocalypse.
Diamond has also been working as MediaLab Video Specialist Professional staff at the University of Technology Sydney, facilitating filmmaking workshops especially in the field of cinematography and supporting Media Arts students and staff with their research and projects.
Up Next in Tender - Four films by CuriousWorks
-
Tender: Carielyn Tunion - i am a deep...
Tender reveals the nuances and tender sides of the communities of Western Sydney through four individual but interconnected documentary films by multidisciplinary artists. Carielyn Tunion’s video poem, "i am a deepsea fisherwoman, but i do not catch fish", explores the connections of a personal d...