Zahra and Maria meet at university in Bucharest in the 1970’s. When the hope of political change draws Zahra home to Iran they are forced apart. For the next decade their only way to communicate is through letters. Divided by two revolutions, their words describe women struggling to be heard, countries moving in different directions, and two souls united in their longing for each other.
“The deep bond between two women is used to explore the empty promise of revolution in Vlad Petri’s imaginative, highly effective doc-hybrid Between Revolutions. The film covers a lot in its modest running-time, and once again confirms Petri’s ability to bring history alive and question what it means to those individuals who live through it.”
Allan Hunter – Screen Daily
“This international co-production between Romania, Iran, Croatia and Qatar is a gesture of dissent. In other words, a small piece of revolutionary cinema. Revolutionary in its unusual format, forging an imaginary story from very real facts, in documentary format. The voice-over is potently delivered on top of impressive archive footage. This must have involved an extensive amount of research, and that comes with many dangers attached (the Iranian co-producer had to remain anonymous). And revolutionary in its content, revealing that the desire for change can be equally liberating and deceitful, be that in Europe or in the Middle East.”
Victor Fraga – Dirty Movies
Production year: 2023 / Duration: 70 minutes
Director: Vlad Petri / Producer: Monica Lăzurean-Gorgan / Text & Co-scriptwriter: Lavinia Braniște / Editors: Dragoș Apetri/ Cătălin Cristuțiu / Vlad Petri
Awards: Winner of the FIPRESCI Award – Berlin Film Festival – Forum 2023; Jury’s Special Mention – ZagrebDox Regional Competition, Croatia, 2023; Best Feature in Romanian Days Competition – Transilvania Film Festival (TIFF), Romania, 2023; FIPRESCI Award – Transilvania Film Festival (TIFF), Romania, 2023; Best Film – International Competition – Make Dox, North Macedonia, 2023; Grand Prix – Mediteran Film Festival, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2023; Special Mention – Lima Alterna Film Festival, Peru, 2023; Best Feature in “Time of History” Competition – SEMINCI Film Festival, Valladolid, Spain, 2023; Special Mention – Porec Dox, Croatia, 2023; Special Jury Prize – Bastau Film Festival, Kazakhstan, 2023; Yilmaz Guney Award for Best Feature Film – Duhok Film Festival, Irak, 2023; Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa Award – Trieste Film Festival, Italy, 2024
“The arresting footage from that era gives “Between Revolutions” a specific texture, making it an indelible snapshot of a certain time and place. In the wake of the Islamic Revolution, Iran was soon on its way to becoming a conservative, closed-off society, while Romania began opening up to the unfettered, cowboy capitalism of the post-communist era after the fall of Ceaușescu.”
Christopher Vourlias – Variety