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Between Revolutions

Între revoluții

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North American Premiere

Stunning archival footage from Iran and Romania serves as the visual backdrop for this sophomore feature from director Vlad Petri. This is an epistolary tale of two fictional women, Zahra and Maria —the former from Iran, and the latter from Romania— who form a bond potentially transcending friendship at the Medicine University in Bucharest in the 1970s. Drawn to the promise of the Iranian Revolution against the Shah, Zahra returns to her home country, leaving Maria behind. She soon grows fearful of the push for an Islamic Republic that sees her intellectual leftist father disappeared. Meanwhile, in Romania, Maria endures increasing hardship and disillusionment under Ceausescu’s tyrannical communist regime. However, neither Maria’s father, nor the watchful eye of the Secret Police, can dissuade her from writing to Zahra. Inspired by documents from the Romanian Secret Police’s archives, Lavinia Braniște’s script —quoting poems by Nina Cassian and Forugh Farrokhzad— weds a haunting lyricism with ever-pertinent themes of longing for freedom from repressive political and patriarchal systems.

Director
Cast

Victoria Stoiciu, Ilinca Harnut

Credits
Country of Origin

Romania/Croatia/Iran

Year

2023

Series

Spectrum

Language

In Romanian and Farsi with English subtitles

Film Contact
18+
70 min
Documentary Human Rights & Social Justice

Book Tickets

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Credits

Producer

Monica Lăzurean-Gorgan

Screenwriter

Lavinia Braniște, Vlad Petri

Editor

Dragoș Apetri, Cătălin Cristuțiu, Vlad Petri

Original Music

Filip Sertic

Director

Vlad Petri headshot

Vlad Petri

Vlad Petri is a director interested in political and social subjects, often mixing personal images with official archives. His films exist at the border between documentary and fiction. His feature, Where Are You Bucharest? (2014) was nominated for Best Feature Film at the Transilvania International Film Festival. Petri’s most recent film, Between Revolutions (2023) received nominations for both the Caligari Film Award, and the Teddy Award, as well as won the FIPRESCI Prize at Berlinale International Film Festival.

Filmography:  New Year’s Eve (2008); Where Are You Bucharest? (2014); La Pas Pe Litoral (2016); Journey Around The Home in 60 Days (2020)

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