Ruxandra Ghițescu

Hawaii is a story on the struggle of inheriting $3 million in communist-era Romania when owning $1 could mean losing your freedom and touches on the theme of how money could buy if not happiness, at least the freedom to choose unhappiness.

Set on the background of economical migration, the film tells the story of Clara, a divorced Romanian mother in her thirties who needs to work abroad in Ulm, a German Town by the Danube river. She is as a babysitter for a little girl that is very fond of. At the same time, she had to leave behind her own 12 years old son who is now in the care of his grandfather. They live in a poor Romanian village also by the Danube river. Feeling abandoned by his mother, the boy runs away from home in an attempt to reach his mother by traveling on a small boat upriver. In this context, Clara has to come back home and face the life she left behind.

Laura has to face her disillusion with love and life as well as her prejudices when her best friend Ana is coming back from Germany with Ines, her attractive and open minded female lover.

Otto, a seventeen-year-old punk, becomes involved in the social services investigation of his girlfriend Laura’s death. He is caught up in a vicious circle created by his parents, his mute grandpa and Laura’s mother. Laura is still part of his life through video recordings that he edits constantly, trying to make sense of the events. Through this process, Otto must take his portion of the responsibility for what happened.

Hawaii is a story on the struggle of inheriting $3 million in communist-era Romania when owning $1 could mean losing your freedom and touches on the theme of how money could buy if not happiness, at least the freedom to choose unhappiness.

Set on the background of economical migration, the film tells the story of Clara, a divorced Romanian mother in her thirties who needs to work abroad in Ulm, a German Town by the Danube river. She is as a babysitter for a little girl that is very fond of. At the same time, she had to leave behind her own 12 years old son who is now in the care of his grandfather. They live in a poor Romanian village also by the Danube river. Feeling abandoned by his mother, the boy runs away from home in an attempt to reach his mother by traveling on a small boat upriver. In this context, Clara has to come back home and face the life she left behind.

Laura has to face her disillusion with love and life as well as her prejudices when her best friend Ana is coming back from Germany with Ines, her attractive and open minded female lover.

Otto, a seventeen-year-old punk, becomes involved in the social services investigation of his girlfriend Laura’s death. He is caught up in a vicious circle created by his parents, his mute grandpa and Laura’s mother. Laura is still part of his life through video recordings that he edits constantly, trying to make sense of the events. Through this process, Otto must take his portion of the responsibility for what happened.

Otto, a seventeen-year-old punk, becomes involved in the social services investigation of his girlfriend Laura’s death. He is caught up in a vicious circle created by his parents, his mute grandpa and Laura’s mother. Laura is still part of his life through video recordings that he edits constantly, trying to make sense of the events. Through this process, Otto must take his portion of the responsibility for what happened.