BETWEEN REVOLUTIONS
Director: Vlad Petri
Producer: Monica Lăzurean-Gorgan
Editor: Cătălin Cristuțiu, Andrei Gorgan
Production company: Activ Docs
Romania, Croatia, Iran, Qatar I 75 min
Two women. Two revolutions. One friendship.
Two women from Romania and Iran become friends during their medical studies in Bucharest. Bound by the same hopes and dreams for their future, they keep each other's secrets. The Iranian revolution of 1979 separates them, but their friendship endures through their letter exchange. As Romania is getting closer to the Revolution of 1989, they are becoming trapped between the fear for the present, longing for change and the hope for a different future. This is an archive-constructed film about the unofficial history told from the female perspective of the women that are surviving oppression.
VLAD PETRI / IMDB
VLAD PETRI is interested in political and social subjects, often mixing personal images with official archives. His films, bordering between documentary and fiction, have been shown at international film festivals like Rotterdam, Sarajevo or Jihlava. He won three Romanian GOPO awards - for Best Debut (2015) and Best Short Films (2021, 2022) and The Jury’s Special Mention at Sarajevo (2021). His selected filmography includes: WHERE ARE YOU BUCHAREST?, THE DEER PASSED IN FRONT OF ME (short) and THE SAME DREAM (short).
Director’s statement
While sifting through my parents’ albums, I discovered a photograph from my mother’s time as a student. Next to her, was a woman in her 20s that looked like she was from another country. My mother told me that she was one of her best friends and that she was from Iran. I was intrigued by this photo and from that moment I started researching about the lives of foreign students in Romania. I looked through letters, notes and photographs taken by the secret police and compiled the story of MARIA and ZAHRA, the two female characters who were studying medicine together in the 70s. For me this is a personal project. I was born in 1979, the year of the Islamic revolution, a country that I'm fascinated with. I spent the first 10 years of my life in a communist country, a time in which I yearned for the freedom to travel. I hope that this will be a touching story about the utopia and the realities of both societies, that reveals the roles of women in challenging authority, propaganda and religion.
MONICA LĂZUREAN-GORGAN / IMDB
MONICA LĂZUREAN-GORGAN is an experienced producer and a member of the AMPAS/Oscar, as well as EFA. Monica is the producer of the successful documentary ACASA by Radu Ciorniciuc, winner of the Sundance Cinematography Award and other 40 international awards, delegate producer for TOUCH ME NOT by Adina Pintilie, winner of the Golden Bear at Berlin Film Festival and co-producer of CHUCK NORRIS VS COMMUNISM by Ilinca Calugareanu.
Where are we at?
Production budget: 328.000,00 EUR
Needed for completion: 85.000,00 EUR
Territories available: Worldwide
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Production company profile
ACTIV DOCS is a Romanian production company focused mainly on creative and social documentaries that explore societies and people from a political perspective, fighting against cliches and power representations, in new, engaging and active ways.