mother tongue; bahasa ibu
Writer | Director
Produced by Daryll Kinivan
Sometimes the best way to move forward is by looking back.
Athena has spent the last 15 years of her life trying to forget her cultural identity and integrate fully into Australian society. A devastating break up forces her back into her childhood home with her mother and grandmother. Athena is desperate to move out again and move on but when she is asked to take care of her dementia-diagnosed grandmother for a morning, their unexpected connection calls everything into question. Looking through old photographs together, Athena begins to remember a childhood that she had repressed and that her grandmother has begun to forget. When her grandmother confuses her for her mother, Athena realises that she may not be so distant from her family after all. Will Athena choose to leave again, or could the home she left behind be the one she’s been searching for?
Photographs by George Webster, Grant Wellburn, Jordan Camilleri, and Faiza Batool