Daughter
A female led drama following a mixed race adoptee, Amee, searching for her birth parents and her identity.
Amee turns up at her birth mother’s door, the woman she's been thinking of all her life. A white woman called Miriam lets her in but after an awkward reunion, frustrated Amee doesn’t have what she was looking for. When teenage mum Belle turns up, Amee is pushed aside, Belle knows nothing about Amee’s existence and Miriam tries to keep the sisters apart. Amee’s bruised by this deceit and leaves. But Amee hears Belle arguing with her mum as she storms off with her baby. Amee follows her to the park. Belle’s decision about the future of her baby, forces Amee to confront her own adoption.
Narrative Short | 12 minutues
Director Statement - Athena Mandis
I was looking for an intimate family drama to direct and put a call out on all the channels. Jo Harper submitted her script which I loved. It was intimate, deep and based on a loved one’s personal experience. It took us two years to get the project of the road, lots of conversations about the story over endless cups of coffee. The one thing I was keen to explore as a director was the spaces between moments, the silences, the waiting. Jo's script had space in it for this. To find the characters through what they were not saying as much as what they did say. it was a wonderful collaboration between writer and director.
