CHILDREN OF EFORIE installation / 2025

Children of Eforie is a video installation exploring the first encounter of a group of children with the Black Sea in Eforie, Romania. These children, considered palliative cases with limited life expectancy, navigate a world often inaccessible to them. Volunteers carry their wheelchairs through the sand, enabling them to experience a space typically reserved for tourists and those not reliant on accessibility.

​

Set against the backdrop of Eforie’s Soviet-era sanatoriums, near the resort of Constanța, the film highlights the resilience and determination with which they overcome invisible barriers, such as dunes and stairs. It also sheds light on the social dimensions of care work, predominantly undertaken by women. The camera becomes a quiet observer of this landscape, where the monochrome transition between sea and sky mirrors the fragility and strength of the children’s community.

​

Paustian’s restrained visual language captures moments of vulnerability alongside joy, reflecting on themes of loss, hope, and existential reflection. Through this understated approach, Children of Eforie invites a subtle dialogue on the essence of life and the spaces we are allowed to inhabit.

​​

​

Made possible by Hospices of Hope

Format: 2K, color

Length: 7:11 min

Language: no dialogue

Production Country    

Germany, UK

​

Cinematography and Production

Kristina Paustian

​

Editing
Dariya Susak

​

Music

Ben Fawkes
 

Sound design and mix

Christian Obermaier

​

Color Grading

Dariya Susak

​

Founded by

Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe

– PREVIOUS PROJECT