My little gem

This 360 VR work was made by Kantanka in 2019/20 as part of a Creative Development of new VR works, supported by Create NSW (through the 360 Vision fund).

An Island Paradise, Weekend Disco Parties, Gossiping Aunties and a Cute Bedtime Story. A Father reminisces about his upbringing in a Indian family and how it has shaped his relationship with his daughter. A story of what it means to be a father and what the next generation decides to pass on their kids.

Writer: Rajan Velu
Father: Rajan Velu
Girl: Lakshmi Thangavelu
Director: Carlos Gomes
Editing/Post Production: Sam James
Music Composer: Gail Priest

Produced by Theater Kantanka

This project was supported by
Create NSW 
Blacktown Arts

Theatre kantanka & Rajan Velu Collaboration 2020/21

LENTICULAR REALITIES

This 360 VR work was made by Kantanka in 2019/20 as part of a Creative Development of new VR works, supported by Create NSW (through the 360 Vision fund).

Step into the street and gardens of Lenticular Realities. Alissar Chidiac, Bint at Khayat, remembering small stories, openning bigger ones. A personal detail, a physical place, a texture fabric.

Expanding and abstracting and disappearing. After hearing Ghassan Hage speak of lenticular reality as "the diaspora experience of being in the realm of more than one place at the same time - imagining a space of woven light, tatreez warp and welt, intersecting multiple situatedness with temporal trajectories.Family heritage intersection with our sites of contemporary political cultural heritage. Gadigal. Redfern. Tarabulus. Dharug. Burramatta. Granville.

Beyond dualities to multiple identities, layering herstories within locations.

Mundane streets with potent intersections. 

A challenge 360 storytelling, can I collage and merge all these realms?

A challenge of now. the present tense, what is my voice, a woman in her sixties?

Stepping into myself. Stepping into suits and sites of lenticular realities.

Writer/Performer: Alissar Chidiac
Directro: Carlos Gomes
Editing/Post Production: Sam James
Music Composition: Gail Priest

This project was supported by
Create NSW
Australia Council for the Arts
Blacktown Arts

Thanks to:
Micheal
The Prophet Restaurant on 274 Cleveland Street
Arab Theatre Studio
Ghassan Hage's concept
My family ancestry in Redfern on Cadigal Land, especially Antoun and May Chidiac

Tailor

This 360 VR work was made by Kantanka in 2019/20 as part of a Creative Development of new VR works, supported by Create NSW (through the 360 Vision Fund).
This film explores the art of tailoring, and its impact on the life of an immigrant tailor in Australia, as seen through the eyes of his daughter.

Director: Carlos Gomes
Video Artist: Sam James
Sound Composer: Gail Priest
Narrator/Performer: Katia Molino
Writer: Katia Molino
Animation: Carlos Gomes

Supported by Create NSW and Blacktown Arts Centre.

Garden

This 360 VR work was made by Kantanka in 2019/20 as part of a Creative Development of new VR works, supported by Create NSW (through the 360 Vision fund). ‘Garden’ was created in collaboration with artists from the Greek diaspora living in Sydney, Australia.

Immersing its audience in the garden, this film experience explores the themes of migration, adaptation, cultural memory and the power of family history.

Director: Carlos Gomes
Video Artist: Sam James
Sound Composer: Gail Priest
Narrator: Arky Michael
Writer: Lina Kastoumis
Garden Design: Katia Molino
Stop Motion Animation: Carlos Gomes

Supported by Create NSW and Blacktown Arts Centre.