Digital ProgramTenderby CuriousWorks

Run time
Installation is open for 3 hours. You are welcome to come and go at any time.

Age
Children aged 15 years and under must be accompanied at all times.

Presented in a unique immersive projection environment, Tender is a multi-channel film work from CuriousWorks. Tender reveals the nuances and tender sides of the communities of Western Sydney through four individual but interconnected documentary films by multidisciplinary artists: Mohammad Awad (3awadi), Carielyn Tunion, Diamond Tat, and Sharon Mani.

The four films in Tender will be screened for free in TIDE, a hidden space within the Opera House illuminated with captivating light projections. The 20-minute program will run on a loop across each evening.

Mohammad Awad 
Bikes

Carielyn Tunion
i am a deepsea fisherwoman, but i do not catch fish

Diamond Tat
Marrow

Sharon Mani
At The Heart of it

“Each of these films welcomes viewers into an intimate exchange of personal narratives, revealing the tenderness in our communities and experiences that are often overlooked by mainstream media. We want those who recognise themselves in these films to feel comfort, joy, and validation; and for those who don’t, to see us for who we are.” - CuriousWorks.

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.

Director, Programming: Brenna Hobson
(Former) Director, Programming: Fiona Winning
Head of Screen: Stuart Buchanan
Senior Producer Screen: Melinda Dransfield
Programming Coordinator: Abby Johnson
Marketing Manager: Adelaide Garner
Marketing Associate: Emily Edgar
Marketing Coordinator: Ashley Santos
Senior Communications Manager: Julia Barnes
Communications Specialist: Natasha Yuncken 
Communications Manager: Emily Cook
Senior Creative: Rohan Cain
Senior Creative - Content: Julia Kenny
Event Account Manager: Anna Bennington
Production Manager: Chris Burn
Food and Beverage Contract Manager: Nicole Switaj
SOHP Ticketing Specialist: Ryan Court
Head of Operations and Business Management , SOHP: Phillippa Martin Reiter
Business Analyst, SOHP: Alison Levingston
Corporate Counsel: Jordana Rowley

CEO: Kiriaki Zakinthinos
Admin and Finance Officer: Andrea Nealy
Creative Producer: Samantha Barahona
Creative Producer: Miranda Aguilar
Creative Producer and Mentor: Andrea Lim
Senior Artist and Mentor: Elias Nohra
Communications Officer: Jenny Trinh
Graphics and Web Design: Huy Nguyen 

Am I Australian? I stumble at the answer, I um and ahh. Am I from Western Sydney? ‘Of course’, there’s no hesitation in my voice. At The Heart of it is a documentary interviewing various people about the sweet and deep memories they have in connection with Western Sydney. But, it’s also an invitation, ‘Come out, West’ You’re not from here so there’s hesitation, a resistance - ‘But isn’t it dodgy that way? Won’t you get stabbed? I heard a guy my cousin’s sister’s father in law once worked with got mugged out there.’ And I’m telling you, the food’s good, the people are warm and the air is different. 

If you’ve looked out into a crowd of people at Bondi beach and never seen anyone who looks like you - get on the T2 or T3 Cumberland Line to Leppington and I promise you, you’re going to hear 8 different languages in the one carriage and one of them might be the language your mum speaks to you at home but whispers when she’s in public. Out west, there’s a lot we don't have but what we do have you can’t find anywhere else. That’s what the subjects find themselves coming back to again and again, there’s something special about Western Sydney - when you’re on these streets, you know you belong. There’s not much else to it - it's just real people, their memories and an invitation. Will you take them up on it? 

Creative credits

Director
Sharon Mani
    
Producer
CuriousWorks
Sharon Mani 
    
Cast
Emmanuel Asante    
Bhima Gotyal
Zig Annor

DOP
Sivani Yaddanapudi
    
Camera Assistant
Kobra Sayyadi

Sound Operator
Shawn Spina

Editor
Jeremiah Nickols

Composer and Sound Designer
Zion Garcia

Colourist
Jashwin Prasad
    
Typography/titling
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
Campbelltown Library    

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.

How can you say love does not exist for me here, when heartbreak has been my witness?

Bikes is an intimate exploration of queer love in Western Sydney in two parts, immersing the viewer in the lives of queer people either in love or looking for love, while retelling a story of queer romance and heartbreak. Debunking the myth that queer and trans people need to leave their Western Sydney homes to find love, joy and intimacy.

This piece actively opposes a one-dimensional narrative of queer love only existing in shame and behind closed doors, everywhere you turn, we thrive before your eyes - allow our love to encompass you. The scope and format of the space is utilised to create a world of queer love that you can walk into and be entranced by, capturing mere glimpses of each couple's conversations within the soundscape, allowing the viewer to imagine what each couple's story may be and inviting them to project onto these vignettes of love.

The central metaphor of a Bike represents a nomadic love-interest who is always on the run, wreaking havoc and heartbreak on the city of Western Sydney. Despite the cycle of emotional turmoil caused by jealousy, infidelity and distance - the subject remains hooked by this love. Repeating the hook “I don’t mind, cause he’s mine”, reaffirming the mantra of denial and reassures his lover that he’s a ‘ride or die’ who will always be there for the ride.

The musical soundscape is dreamlike, capturing the innocence and wonder of young romance amidst the backdrop of a Western Sydney landscape. The piece glides through melancholic tones and upbeat tempos, with themes of heartbreak creeping in, ultimately processing the grief and denial of a relationship changing irrevocably.

Religious imagery and metaphors are incorporated to showcase the relationship between divinity and love, such as the performance of sufi darwish (twirling dervish) in the context of heartbreak. The darwish is traditionally practised as a form of prayer, dissociating from connections to the material world and becoming more receptive to divine intervention. However here it's performed in the context of heartbreak, with the subject's disorientation on display and attempting to disconnect from reality. This metaphor is extended with the reveal of other subjects also performing darwish, reinforcing the themes of infidelity and reflecting the complexity of modern queer relationships.

Creative credits

Writer and Director
Mohammad Awad        

Producer
CuriousWorks
Mohammad Awad        

Cast
Mohammad Awad         
Steven Otakilevuka       
Abdullah Sankari           
Chloe Singleton and Seren liu    
Felix Officer-McIntyre and Sara El Youghun        
Mewmel Muraben          
Meg Jefferson and Elise Carsburg          

DOP
Lucca BP          

Camera Assistant 
Irisha Adnyana  
Trudi Gultom    

Gaffer
Deniz Celik      

Sound operator
Carla Dobbie    

Production Assistant
Miranda Aguilar 
Elias Nohra      

Editor
Mohammad Awad        

Composer and music producer
Carla Dobbie    

Sound mixer
Tahlia-Rose Coleman    

Song by 
Mohammad Awad (3AWADI)    

Typography/titling 
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
Selin Ayer   

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.           

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.    

i am a deepsea fisherwoman, but i do not catch fish (videopoem) explores the diaphanous connections of a personal diasporic family story rooted in the archipelago known as ‘the Philippines’ and Hong Kong. Across three parts or ‘cantos’, it touches on ideas of metaphysical distance, home yearning, ritual, and radical nostalgia. 

Creative credits

Director
Carielyn Tunion

Producer
CuriousWorks
Carielyn Tunion

Cast
Carielyn Tunion    

DOP
Justine Da Jose
    
Production design
Genesis Mansilongan

Production Assistant
Elias Nohra

Editor
Carielyn Tunion    
Elias Nohra

Composer and Sound designer
Wytchings (Jenny Trinh)

Typography/titling
Huy Nguyen

Creative and Technical Director
Elias Nohra

Production manager
Samantha Barahona, CuriousWorks

Production Consultant
Miranda Aguilar, CuriousWorks
    
Communications Officer
Jenny Trinh, CuriousWorks
    
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.