Waiting for August

Being 15 can be tough – especially when you are poor and have six brothers and sisters to care for.


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  • Director Teodora Ana Mihai
  • Producers Hanne Phlypo, Antoine Vermeesch
  • Screenwriter Teodora Ana Mihai
  • Belgium 2014
  • 88 mins
  • Sales Rise and Shine World Sales

Teodora Ana Mihai’s remarkable debut feature follows Romanian teenager Georgiana Halmac through the year as she cooks, cleans, studies, socialises and takes care of her six siblings in their tiny flat in Bacau, whilst their mother, an economic migrant, works in Italy. Just turned 15 that winter, she must become head of the family during her mother’s absence. With only long-distance phone calls and her own resilience to support her, Georgiana accepts the responsibilities of adulthood whilst also dealing with the travails of being a teenager – school friends, boyfriends and exams. Beautifully shot and edited, Mihai’s fly-on-the-wall study details intimate scenes from the daily life of Georgiana and her siblings through the seasons and holidays – along with the challenges they face both at home and at school – as they await the arrival of summer and the return of their mother. Sensitive but never sentimental, this portrait of family life is illuminated by love and affection.

Christine Bardsley