Sharlene Bamboat
Digitized 16mm & Super8mm, 5.1 surround sound, 38 mins, 2024
Sound by Richy Carey
Both, Instrument & Sound employs tension as an aesthetic strategy, to explore solidarity, collective struggle, and the transformation of these values under neoliberalism. The film follows the life of Tony as he describes his process of political activism from the 1970s onwards, which cannot be disentangled from his friendships and his lovers.
In the face of a growing politics and language of individualism, the film questions discourses and practices of solidarity. Through hand-processed 16mm film and collective listening practices, the collision of flesh and friendship, sonic and visual tension and the complications of solidarity are explored.
The film’s soundtrack was co-written through a graphic score created by Sharlene, with different musicians and the film’s cast and crew. I worked with their interpretations of the score, alongside my own, to create an expansive soundtrack that elongates tensions between sound and image through a motive surround sound score.