Cirrus@Austlit

'1996.

'Life seems to be looking up for the Ejercito family despite an arrival of a new boom of conservatism, spearheaded by John Howard and Pauline Hanson. A new job, a new role in an ultra-fabulous amateur production of a Broadway classic and falling in love.

'Nineteen-year-old Lovia, her younger, theatrical brother Vergel, live in a house in the Sutherland Shire with their disenfranchised father, Jovy, who has long descended into alcoholism, frequently passes out under the Hills Hoist.

'Lovia’s unearthed desires slowly emerge as she carves out bigger dreams, away from mundanity of Australian suburbia, and the political instability of the Philippines. On the cusp of her finding love in the aisles of a Franklin’s supermarket, the lives of Lovia and Vergel are rocked to its core following the return of an estranged presence, which sends Jovy’s resentment toward their motherland into overdrive.

'Ate Lovia is a new Filipino-Australian drama, that interrogates what it means to stay loyal to your family, no matter how brutal it gets.'

Source: Red Line Productions.