Whispering Sands is a muted story of the relationship between a soul-searching village girl and her jaded, possessive mother. Daya′s father, who was a traveling medicine peddler, deserted the family long ago. As a single mother, Berlian is overly protective of her adolescent daughter. Escaping into the secret labyrinths of her imaginary world, the lonely Daya lies down on the sand and dreams of meeting her long lost father. Berlian′s love towards Daya becomes an obsessive one, from her fear that her daughter will turn out to be like her: bitter due to unrealized dreams. It is not only a story about how a mother′s love can both stifle and liberate a person′s spirit but it is also about power and the decisions people make in life that sometimes have little to do with the accepted norms in society. (production notes)