WAITING FOR TOURISM (Romania, 2008)

As a brand new member of the European Union, Romania has great expectations for Western tourism. But as of yet the flood of holiday-makers has failed to materialise. Many large restaurants, set up by hopeful entrepreneurs, are left with tables spread but no diners. At the most, the space is filled by noisy ‘turbo-folk beat’ coming from crackly loudspeakers or a showy flatscreen TV. The staff is comprised largely of young people who were born after the revolution. They kill time by SMSing, smoking cigarettes and staring emptily into space. Irma Bulkens portrayed this younger generation of Romanians, for whom the heritage of communism consists primarily of waiting.