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Mother Tongue
About the Film
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. Now facing everything she had sacrificed for a life that had just abandoned her, Athena struggles to own her mistakes and reconcile with her family. She 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?
Director/ Writer
Aisha Wilson
Producer
Daryll Kinivan
Behind the Scenes
Cast & Crew
Producer: Daryll Kinivan
Director/Writer:Aisha Wilson
Director of photography: George Webster
Production designer: Hayley Spring
Editor: Molly Turner
Sound designer: Gabby Pompeani
Costume designer: Charlotte Peachey
Casting director: Aisha Wilson & Daryll Kinivan
Production manager: Daryll Kinivan & Kai Hng Sheryce Gooi
First assistant director: Kai Hng Sheryce Gooi
Cast
Athena: Ella den Engelsman
Nyai: Rita B. Brown
Nur: Ranti Wardhani
Supporting cast
Jake: Will Hutchieson
Sam: Abi Pineda
Taylor: Chantelle Lal
Mother: Chin Jongko
Voices (dub)
Sam: Feo Molanza
Taylor: Nadine Naomi
Mother: Vina Dwidjaja
Gaffer: Macaria Lo
Grip: Nicholas Jorss
Sound recordist: Feo Molanza
Second-unit sound recordist: Brandon Seebaran
Boom operator: Molly Turner
Art assistant: Holly Conlon
Script supervisor / continuity: Natasha Man
Hair & makeup: Charlotte Peachey
Data wrangler: Molly Turner
Production assistant: Jinghui Luo
Marketing / social media: Faiza Batool
Script consult: Al Singh, George Webster &Travis Vetier
Stills photography: George Webster & Dominic Thwaite
BTS photography: Jordan Camilleri & Grant Wellburn
Editors
Assistant editor: Tahlia Tatnell
Sound designer: Gabby Pompeani
Colour editor: Fynn Moran
Caterer & craft services: Aisha Wilson, Kai Hng Sheryce Gooi, Daryll Kinivan & Rita B. Brown
Music credits
Soap opera composer – Amariah Collard
Sound library – Matt Hsu
Special thanks
Orion Lee • ELC (Equipment Loans) • James Paramor • Rob Matthews • Allan Bremner • Rhys Tyack • Anthony Dempsey • Joe Carter • CI Studios Technical Services Team • QUT Film Club • the Pijetlovic family • the Brown family • the Wilson family • the Kinivan family • Travis Vetier • Jason Hargreaves • Jensen Just • Kirsty Barnes
Executive producers: Nicole McCuaig & Jason Tolsher
The QUT School of Creative Arts acknowledges the Turrbal and Yugara as the First Nations owners of the lands where QUT now stands. We pay respect to their Elders, lores, customs and creation spirits. We recognise that these lands have always been places of teaching, research, and learning. QUT acknowledges the important role Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people continue to play within the QUT community.
