On the occassion of Carers Week (9 - 15 June 2025), the ACF London screens 24 Hours a documentary film exploring the care industry through the eyes 50-year-old Romanian Sadina Lungu. She is a 24-hour caregiver. She has been caring for 85-year-old Mrs. Pöschl in Bad Vöslau for years. Sadina's life is monotonous and exhausting. Loneliness gnaws at her. Fitness exercises, smoking and online conversations with family and friends in Romania help her through the days. For 14 years, Sadina has endured three to five months at a time before going home for a month to be with her loved ones, whom she supports financially, and do what she likes. With her long stints, Sadina is a rare sight in the industry. How does Sadina manage her life away from home? How does she fight the threat of alienation from home? How does she manage to stay herself under multiple physical and mental challenges, and get something out of life herself?

The documentary 24 Hours draws its emotional power primarily from the figure of its protagonist Sadina Lungu, who hardly corresponds to the cliché of female nurses. In online contacts with female colleagues, the film simultaneously tells of the dangers and exploitative conditions in the care sector, which can only persist because of the extreme social imbalance in Europe. Parallel to Sadina's personal, emotional story, the film develops great socio-political relevance. For in this film Sadina does not stand for herself alone, but for an estimated 40,000 Romanian women who provide care services in Austria.

AT 2024, 100min, German with English subtitles, directed by Harald Friedl.

Please note that all CineClub films are suitable for an 18+ audience.