I Often Think of Hawai
Sixteen-year-old Carmen lives with her mother and brother on the grey outskirts of West Berlin, dreaming of dance, love and escape from everyday life. In front of the camera, reality gives way to her imagination as Elfi Mikesch creates an ironic and sensual alternative world where fantasy becomes a way of transcending the limits of her own life.
Carmen is 16 and lives on the outskirts of Berlin with her mother Ruth and brother Tito. Her father, a Puerto Rican soldier, is long gone, leaving only records and postcards behind. Between grey housing blocks and daily routines, Carmen dreams of becoming a dancer. In bold makeup and flowing robes, she performs her fantasies for the camera, imagining love and escape. Inspired by the sharp irony of American underground films, Elfi Mikesch is blending reality and imagination into a vivid counterworld. Desire briefly transforms the limits of her everyday life.
Written with the characters Ruth Rossol, her son and, above all, her teenager daughter, the film celebrates the power of fantasy. Through her work with image and sound, E. Mikesch who took over all the writing, filming, directing as well as editing creates a parallel tropical world that opposes the harshness of West Berlin. Where reality and imagination intertwine to tell the story of “ordinary” lives.
The film will be screened together with Clean With Me (After Dark).
Elfi Mikesch
Elfi Mikesch (b. 1940) is an Austrian cinematographer, filmmaker, photographer, and visual artist, active in New German Cinema since the 1970s. She has collaborated with filmmakers including Werner Schroeter, Rosa von Praunheim, and Monika Treut. Her work combines documentary and fiction, dream and reality. She has directed over 25 films and co-founded Hyena Films in 1984. Her poetic and groundbreaking visual style has earned her numerous international awards.
Reżyseria: Elfi Mikesch
