O CASA APARTE

"Sibiu, Capitala Europeana" – Transylvanian Sibiu, one of the richest cities in Romania, has been chosen to be the European Capital of Culture 2007. The entire city has become a construction site. Everything must be gleaming, the EU-money is flowing. In the middle of all this is 70-year-old Ioan Drasovean, an old man trying to keep up with the drastic changes in his country. He lives in a small flat in a derelict house, a strong contrast to the magnificent renovations all over the city centre. We follow Ioan in his everyday life: at home or sitting on a bench in the park; in serious discussions with his friend Ilie or others; discussing Putin, Castro and mobile phone charges; and an old vacuum cleaner that needs to be fixed. "We are waiting for the EU." Was Samuel Beckett actually Romanian? This is a film about Romanian society, its problems and its hopes. And about how communism gave up because it was clever.