Home Sweet Home: Revealing hidden family truths

Family stories have a way of shaping our lives, often in ways we don’t even realize.

Recently, I attended a screening of an independent film called Home Sweet Home by Singaporean filmmaker Megan Wonowidjoyo, a lecturer at the Faculty of Cinematic Arts, Multimedia University in Cyberjaya.

The title Home Sweet Home is a poignant reflection of the film’s exploration of family, trauma, and the healing power of storytelling.

A journey through trauma and healing

The film was part of the Freedom Film Network’s 20th Anniversary of the Freedom Film Fest.

It was screened in Johor Bahru, where Megan had spent several years with her family and in Singapore, where she grew up, after the premier screening at Freedom Film Festival in Kuala Lumpur earlier.

The FFF screening of Home Sweet Home in Johor Bahru was in collaboration with Engage, both of which are beneficiaries of Sokong.org.

Engage, an NGO focusing on critical issues such as environmental protection and human rights, worked with the Freedom Film Network (FFN) to bring this powerful story to the screen.

FFN, which ‘aims to develop a sustainable model for social filmmaking through a network that supports, inspires, and produces powerful and relevant films at the boundaries of our constraints,’ played a crucial role in this endeavour.

Confronting hidden family trauma

The film is a testament to the director’s courage as she fearlessly delves into her family’s history, unearthing painful truths and seeking healing.

During the Q&A after the screening, Megan shared her motivation for making the film: confronting the deep-seated traumas that many prefer to sweep under the carpet.

She bravely recounted how she discovered her mother’s hidden past, including a lost love and a heartbreaking separation from her biological mother, who was a maid.

These revelations were transformative, changing how she viewed her mother’s seemingly distant behaviour—a powerful reminder that our parents’ stories are often more complex than we imagine, shaped by experiences they rarely discuss.

Megan revealed the challenges in making the film, saying, “Sometimes when we hear stories from our parents that are familiar, there are other stories we don’t want to talk about because they are traumas.

In experiencing a trauma, the easiest thing to do is to hide it under the carpet, sweep it underneath, or close the skeleton behind the cupboard and not talk about it.

So what I wanted to do, through this film, is to talk about those difficult emotions of trauma.”

The resilience of the human spirit

There was a distance between mother and daughter. Still, as the production of the film progressed, conversations with her mother and three other siblings revealed to Megan that the distance wasn’t because her mother did not love her.

“Sometimes these things are so profound because these patterns happen when you are young.

The effects or the consequences as an adult continue, and you don’t recognise them, or you don’t know that some decisions you made were because of some trauma you had earlier.”

“In making this film, I was hoping to, first of all, bring out the trauma and then, secondly, try to change it, if possible.

Maybe not entirely, but it is a step of improvement. It took quite a lot for me to ask her if she favored my other sisters over me.”

“At the end, my mom said, ‘No, I treat you all the same.’ I was glad that through this film, I could change the narrative or tell myself that she loves all of us.

That was the conclusion,” Megan revealed—a testament to the power of storytelling to change our perceptions and bring hope.

Her mother endured significant traumas, from being a neglected child to going through a divorce. These experiences ran parallel to Megan’s challenges.

Megan, despite feeling unloved and experiencing a divorce at 39—the same age her mother was when she divorced her father—found herself a single mother of two sons: Joel, now 17, who is living with autism, and Judah, now 22.

Megan’s mother is now 78 and suffering from amnesia that comes with age. Yet, Megan’s resilience shines through, inspiring us all with her strength.

Megan’s journey is proof of the resilience of the human spirit and the transformative power of storytelling.

Her story resonates with some of the 29 who attended the screening of Home Sweet Home and reminds us that no matter how painful our pasts may be, there is always hope for healing and growth.