The film was screened at documentary film festivals in Marseilles, Jihlava (Czech Republic), Edinburgh and Sibiu.

About the Documentary

What is remarkable about this film is the brief, almost anarchic, flowering of "street democracy" that took place in the month following the Romanian revolution, a series of furious debates about politics, land, the economy and the future. They seem as relevant today as they were in 1989.

After the Revolution observes the situation in Bucharest in the period immediately following the 1989 revolution - continual street protests against a government that took over from the Communist Party a bit too smoothly. The heart of the film is made up of ordinary people talking passionately on the streets. It is filmed with patience and humour.

Context and structure is provided by the political leaders and journalists of the day, and the hurried (and heavily disputed) election. The 1990 election itself is covered in a crowded polling station and concludes with a statement by the international election monitors who appear shocked by the amount of "irregularities" they saw.

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The Suspect

During the revolution there were furious rumours of terrorists shooting into the crowd, allegations that were never investigated. After the Revolution has a scene when a man says "They said people were paid to demonstrate ... but I didn't see anyone who has been paid to demonstrate" and he is treated like a suspected terrorist. Fortunately there was no violence involved in this incident.

The Lady

Based on the way "the lady" talks it is clear she was a Communist Party activist. She is more coherent than the others but the vehemence with which she condemns the opposition leaders contrasts with her elegant appearance. She is also full of rather incoherent economic statements, such as: "Too many engineers? Let them become skilled workers ... Too many skilled workers? Let them become engineers. Too many scientists? Let them go to work too ..."

The old man & the workers

One of the most compelling scenes in the film involves an argument between an independent minded old man and a group of angry pro-Iliescu supporters who are infuriated with him. What is surprising about this scene is how violent the language was and yet how it never descended into actual violence, and also the fact that the old man had the courage to stand up to this verbal barrage -- and still remain cheerful.

Laurentiu Calciu

Laurentiu Calciu was a maths teacher and film buff when Romania's 1989 revolution struck. Then he got hold of a VHS camera and discovered documentary by filming the aftermath of the 1989 revolution. He then studied documentary filmmaking at the National Film and Television School in Beaconsfield, UK. He has made films in the UK, Greece, Romania, former Yugoslavia and Russia. Currently he is in Scotland.

Laurentiu has the rare ability to film people without being noticed. He can integrate into a group of people and they seem not to be aware of his presence, as if he is invisible. His filmmaking style is called observational and there is no use of voiceovers or special effects.

The Land is Waiting (original title Mamaliga te Asteapta), a film about a Roma family in NE Romania, won a series of awards: best Romanian film at the the Sibiu Film Fest in 2004, Prix Jean Rouch Nanook at the Paris Ethnography Film Festival in 2005, Grand Prix at the Roma film festival in Skopje 2005 and best Balkan film in Prizren in the same year. You can see it on www.productive.ro.

To contact Laurentiu Calciu see the contact page on www.productive.ro

The Making Of

The story about the making of this film is the story of Laurentiu Calciu, a maths teacher who got hold of a VHS camera just after Romania's 1989 revolution. He went out on the street in early January 1990 and started filming people arguing with each other about politics, economics and the future -- material that found its way into this film 20 years later. He teamed up with Rupert Wolfe Murray who had come to Romania as a freelance journalist for a Scottish newspaper (Scotland on Sunday), and who had access to government press conferences and the press centre. The two witnessed many demonstrations, rallies and the general election of May 1990. But this material was not shot as a film, but as a recording of what seemed like momentous events and neither of them even looked at the tapes for 20 years. In 2009 they decided to have a look at the old material and realised they were sitting on something unique, a glimpse into what people were thinking just after the revolution; a totally different perspective from anything that had been made about Romania's that much disputed revolution.

Behind the scenes

To download a free copy of the poster click here (A1 format)

The graphic design for the poster and the website were crafted by Matei Tudor, an independent designer based in Bucharest, Romania. Tudor copied thousands of images from the film and worked many nights to produce this brilliant montage of Ion Ratiu, one of the opposition leaders in 1990, speaking through a megaphone at a rally.

The code for the website was generously provided by Andrei Petre, a brilliant programmer based in Southampton, UK.

You can download a free copy of the poster here and if you download the big version (A1/45MB) you will be able to see the detail in each small picture. If you would like to contact our designer directly click here.

Have us arrested.

We'd really like to know what you think of this film, so send us some feedback. We also recommend that you organise a screening of After the Revolution (it is particularly suited for students of history, politics, sociology and anthropology) as well as for cultural organisations.

If you are into Twitter please follow the producer on www.twitter.com/wolfemurray or the production designer here.