Waiting for August

A grim atemporality has infiltrated the lives of seven Romanian siblings. Their mother has gone to work in Italy, and the responsibility for caring for the household is placed entirely with 15-year-old Georgiana. The girl doesn't lack determination but in the coming months she will have to contend with her brothers' and sisters' complicated personalities, as well as with the personal weaknesses lying in wait for her during this premature test of adulthood. The subject matter was inspired by the debuting director's own childhood: her parents left her in communist Romania for an entire year as they sought asylum in Belgium. She focuses, in her intimate and sensitive motion picture, on the limited possibilities of the plot situations, surprising the viewer with the wide range of emotions she is able to record. With a flair for detail and atmosphere, she poetically portrays both the specific lives and a more general story about Romania today where families are affected by economic rather, than political, issues. (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival)