A REVOLUTION IN FOUR SEASONS

With the ousting of President Ben Ali in 2011, Tunisia lit the spark for the revolutionary Arab Spring that followed. Living abroad as a student at the time, director Jessie Deeter was inspired to document the movement. When she met Emna Ben Jemaa and Jawhara Ettis, two passionate women on opposite sides of the political spectrum, she knew she had her story. Ben Jemaa had gained notoriety as an outspoken blogger who rallied for secularism, while Ettis, an English teacher and strict Islamist, had just been elected to Parliament to draft Tunisia’s new constitution. Though their opinions about religion and solutions differed greatly, there was a commonality in their patriotism and determination to make their homeland a better place. Through victories and losses, heartbreak and celebrations, Deeter captured the women as they progressed from young idealists to adults with more nuanced views shaped by the vastly different world around them. Filmed over a period of four years, A REVOLUTION IN FOUR SEASONS is a gripping documentary that presents a revealing look at a country transformed by democracy, and two incredibly brave women who fought for it. (In English, French, and Arabic with subtitles) —E.F.