A play by Xandra Popescu directed by Ioana Paun, based on an investigation by Laura Stefanut

A Filipino engineer who came to Romania to work as a house-keeper is the leading actress in a play about domestic work and migration. The performance is based on a true story and the investigation of the entire system of placing labor in Romania.

“We advise all employers to treat them with an iron fist in a velvet glove”— extract from an interview with the director of a placement agency for Filipino domestic personnel.

In a country well-known for its export of domestic labour, hiring exotic in-house helpers is becoming a status symbol.Like many other Filipinos, Joy comes to Romania in order to support her family. The intermediating agency places her as a nanny for the two children of an affluent family.

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A script by Xandra Popescu and Stefan Constantinescu

Disillusioned with her day to day life, Carmen, a middle aged radio speaker, sometimes procrastinates online. In the fantasy realm of Facebook, she rekindles the relationship with David, a long lost high school lover. When David invites her on a Viking Line cruise, Carmen takes the plunge. She takes a few days off from work, telling her son and husband that she is traveling for a radio piece. Seductive but dangerous, her high-school lover turns out to be very different from the man she thought she knew. Throughout her journey Carmen is faced with tough choices between past and present.

Directed by Stefan Constantinescu