Foreign Country

Sisters, no matter the age gap or where they were born or what decade they grew up in, share a bond. Your sister can’t judge you, because she is part of you. She shared your childhood in a way no one else could. She can make you angrier than anyone else ever could, and yet hers is the only opinion you need when deciding on a new pair of shoes to wear to that very important event you have next week.

Eva and Elizabeta were sisters, inseparable until the unthinkable happened. They relied on each other when they were uprooted from their home and moved to the other side of the world. They were there for one another when their father died, and their mother fell apart. And then, suddenly, Eva can’t bear the sight of El, refuses to take her phone calls, moves back to the other side of the world, and flees a past too difficult to bear. Eva assumes there will be time someday, if not for reconciliation or even forgiveness, but at least for one more conversation. And then Elizabeta is gone, and Eva is left to pick up the pieces.

In her sister’s home, back among the gum trees, Eva literally picks through the debris left behind, gradually finding out who this older version of El was, and slowly realising that in her own grief her memory failed her in a most devastating way. Ten years ago, not only did Eva lose a daughter, she also gave up her sister at the one point in time when she needed her the most.

Written in pieces, reflecting Eva’s emotional state as she attempts to deal with the past, this is a poetic story of emptiness and renewal, trauma and catharsis, loss and love.