Heshi Wijerathna

🏮 The Story 🏮

In the early 2000s of Melbourne’s inner suburbs, Jane’s duty to her single, working mother is to raise her little sister, Jordan. Living their lives side by side, when Jordan begins going to Chinese school, Jane becomes immersed in the culture that she has long lost touch with. By reuniting with her mother’s culture, not only does Jane embrace her cultural identity, but she also rekindles her relationship with her mother.

Mother Tongue is a film about how identity, family and culture intertwine – how messy that can be but how it can end with reconciliation and growth.

🏮 The Cast 🏮

Shirong Wu 吳士容 Wú Shì Róng plays the 17-year-old Jane. A Chinese girl grappling with her cultural identity as well as her fractured relationship with her ma due to a language barrier and generation gap. These circumstances have led Jane to reject her culture - mainly manifesting in her appearance and language abilities. 

Anani Ho 何傲恩 Hé Ào Ēn plays Jane's younger sister, Jordan, who’s had a more sheltered upbringing thanks to Jane’s care; her innocence remains intact - looking at everything wide-eyed and in awe. However, Jordan’s starting to pick up on things that will inevitably shape her understanding of her family and the world around her.

Kim Ko plays Ma, a single mother who works around the clock to provide for her children, always putting on a brave face in front them and trying to make the best of difficult circumstances. Ma relies on Jane, the glue that holds the family together, but is unable to express how grateful she is due to Jane’s flippant attitude. Ma has grown as a parent after raising Jane and is trying to instill a love of family and Chinese culture in Jordan’s upbringing. 

A detailed biography for the cast is available in our updates tab.

🏮 The Crew 🏮

Meet our talented Heads of Department:

Jessica Li - Writer/Director

Jessica Li is Mother Tongue’s writer/director. In her short time at Swinburne University, she has written and directed five short-form projects while also working as a 2nd assistant director, performance coach, casting director and actor. Jess’ passion lies in creating intimate dramas that feature diverse characters, she utilises years of acting training to support and guide actors to achieve their best performances. Jess is incredibly excited to lead an all East-Asian cast for the first time and represent her Chinese-Australian culture on screen.

Samantha Kwan - Co Producer/Editor

Heshi Wijerathna - Co Producer

Francis Healy Wood - Director of Photography

Jenni Aldred - Sound Designer

Kasia Silva - Co Production Design

Amelia Childs - Co Production Design

🏮 Donations + Rewards 🏮

Why should you donate? Good question! 

By donating to our campaign, you’re not only helping us as young filmmakers, but contributing to the growing representation of people of colour in the Australian film industry.

In addition to our eternal love, we’ve added some sweet incentives for our generous donors:

Every person who pledges receives an entry into the draw to win our 🏮ABC - Australian Born Chinese🏮 themed hamper … plus a lil’ something extra to express our gratitude:

< $10 = Eternal love and gratitude + 1 entry

$10+ = Special mention in credits + 2 entries

$25+ = Video message of thanks from the crew + all of the above + 3 entries

$50+ = Custom Mother Tongue T-Shirt + all of the above + 4 entries

$75+ = Mother Tongue Paper crane from set + all of the above + 5 entries

$100+ = Digital copy of completed film + all of the above + 6 entries

🏮 The Future 🏮

Mother Tongue is a timely film that addresses representation, or the lack thereof, of Asian characters and stories in Australian media. There clearly is a growing market within local and international film festivals for films that represent the true Australia, and Mother Tongue does this.

Mother Tongue is a very special film for all involved. With HOD crew of predominately 2nd generation Australians, the film is our response to not seeing ourselves represented on screen. We hope to share this film with as many audiences as possible, believing that Mother Tongue will be a memorable and relatable film with impact.

The Mother Tongue crew have tirelessly been working on the pre-production stage for the last year, during which we have fine-tuned and perfected our script, hand picked our lovely cast, meticulously planned every last detail, and are now mentally prepared to see Mother Tongue come to life through production and post-production. Although this may be the exciting part, it is also the most financially demanding. 

We as filmmakers believe this is a story worth telling, and therefore have financially backed this project as much as student filmmakers can, however we need your help to make it the best product it can be, to prove that diverse storytelling is worth investing in. The main expenses your donations will contribute towards are production design, location, colour grading, sound mixing marketing and distribution. 

Every donation is appreciated and will contribute towards making sure diverse stories are made, and more importantly shared with as many audiences as possible! 

Much love,

The ‘Mother Tongue’ Crew x