Over a period of 5 years, Andrei Schwartz accompanied a group of Romanian Roma who have been commuting between their home country and Hamburg for years.
Due to a lack of work in Romania, they earn a living for themselves and their children in Hamburg by begging. They sleep under bridges and in parks, in constant fear of being discovered and expelled. For the city authorities they are considered “voluntary homeless”, access to emergency programmes is denied them even in winter.
Every few months they go home, back to their children and relatives. To a home that has offered them neither jobs nor prospects since the fall of communism.
The two main protagonists, Maria and Tirloi, are the only ones who have managed to build a piece of normality for themselves. They form the bridge between the two worlds: He has work, she still goes begging. And they have a place to stay: a small flat in a community centre where they bicker and make plans after work. Perhaps a start, also for their granddaughter Ioana, who now attends school. The 13-year-old is the first in the family to be able to read and write.
A film about success and failure, and the price one pays for it.
Written and directed by: Andrei Schwartz / director of photography: Susanne Schüle / producer: Stefan Schubert / A Wüste Film Production / funded by BKM and MOIN FFHSH
PHOTO: Susanne Schüle
