Carmen, who is 16, lives with her mother Louise and younger brother Tito in the projects on the outskirts of Berlin.  Her father who had been a Puerto Rican soldier had abandoned them and all they had left of him were some exotic postcards and a record collection of Caribbean music. When her mother who goes to work early as a cleaner is gone, Carmen listens to music that is suggestive of Hawaii and tells of her daily life and dreams before the camera.  Written, shot, directed and edited by Elfi Mikesch for ZDF in 1978, this film shows the daily life of a family to which a German teenager belongs, like the original slogan from the film poster, but the continued overlapping of black and white and color images, Carmen’s flamboyant makeup and outfits, and her listless voiceover narration make for a dreamlike experience.  

Elfi Mikesch (1940~) Born in Judenburg, Austria
After studying photography, Elfi Mikesch worked as an artist before getting married and moving to Frankfurt where she met Rosa von Praunheim, a German experimental filmmaker.  She then worked on Passions, an experimental film, with Rosa and her husband Fritz Mikesch as she traveled through the U.S. and Asia in 1971.  After directing the poetic documentary titled I Often Think of Hawaii, in 1978, she produced various experimental films and documentaries.  She was the cinematographer for Werner Schroeter, Monika Treut, Peter Lilienthal, and Rosa von Praunheim and became a pioneer as a female cinematographer.