If From Every Toungue it Drips (2021): A film by Sharlene Bamboat

Synopsis: If From Every Tongue it Drips is a film that uses the framework of quantum physics to explore the ways that personal relationships and political movements at once transcend and challenge time, space, identity and location. The film follows the lives of a couple living in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka, one of whom writes Rekhti, a form of 19th century, Urdu, queer poetry; the other, the camera operator. As their personal lives unfold on camera, the lines between rehearsal and reality, location and distance, self and other dissipate and reinforce one another. Simultaneously, through poet and camera operator’s daily lives, interconnections between British colonialism, Indian nationalism and the impact of both on contemporary poetry, dance and music in South Asia is revealed.

Bio: Sharlene Bamboat (1984, Pakistan) is a moving image and installation artist based in Tio’tia:ke/Montreal. Her practice often engages with translation, history and music, uncovering sensory and fractured ways of knowing. Film Programmer Jemma Desai states of her work, “[Sharlene’s] ongoing interest [lies in] the many ways that popular culture can be politicised, as well as the sensuous possibilities of its reclamation." Sharlene regularly collaborates with artists, musicians and writers to animate historical, political, legal, and pop-culture materials. Her most frequent collaborator is Alexis Mitchell. Her work has exhibited internationally, including: International Film Festival Rotterdam (Netherlands), Art of the Real (NYC), Mantiq of the Mantis (Lahore), the Sharjah Film Platform (U.A.E.), Mercer Union (Toronto) and Henry Art Gallery (Seattle).

Location: Peel Street Cinema, 3475 Peel