“The on location shoot in northern Afghanistan, around the cities of Mazar-e-Sharif and Kunduz, has given a richness of detail to Feo Aladag’s film – above all in the description of the everyday life of the locals and the soldiers in a permanent state of exception – as it has rarely been seen.”
Süddeutsche Zeitung

“Superb images and actors. A very strong and award worthy film – very close to reality.”
ZDF heute journal

“The highlight of this years Berlinale: Feo Aladag and her strong movie INBETWEEN WORLDS! …Very intense, very atmospheric, very convincing!”
Leipziger Volkszeitung

“A very strong film about responsibility and conscience. An important cultural contribution to the imminent disengagement of the German army from Afghanistan.”
3sat Kulturzeit

“An awakening film… while most filmmakers choose a secure country with a similar landscape to shoot in, 42-year-old Feo Aladag and her crew decided to film on location in Kunduz and Mazar-i-Sharif. This authenticity and the outstanding performance of the actors make up the charm of this film. The heat with temperatures up to 55 degrees, the fear of the soldiers during their military operations, the difficult communication with the Afghan allies, the almost hopeless situation of the local interpreters – all that is clearly transmitted to the audience. Aladag’s film is not superficially asking about the purpose of the German army’s mission. She wants to open the view on the people who have to put the political decisions into practice every day. The helplessness from all sides becomes perceptible… After her drama about honour killing with Sibel Kekilli in the leading role, Feo Aladag again successfully implements a politically delicate subject. She met her impressive Afghan main actor Mohsin Ahmady accidentally in a village close to Mazar-i-Sharif…”
FOCUS

“A masterpiece!”
Brigitte

“INBETWEEN WORLDS was the fourth German contribution in this years Berlinale competition. And it was certainly the most captivating of all the German films. It is a film from which you can hardly escape as a spectator. A film that asks the spectator to take a position. Which continues to have an effect after it ends. Feo Aladag has taken the only reasonable path to cover a story about Afghanistan. She shows the daily routine of the German soldiers and their moral conflicts. She also demonstrates how they sometimes get carried away, how they sometimes act in an unrestrained way. But she also shows how they try to help and to conciliate.”
Deutsche Welle

“Stirring and moving.”
Frankfurter Neue Presse

“Thanks to INBETWEEN WORLDS, German cinema sparkles at this year’s Berlinale. … Feo Aladag is not trying to take a position. She rather shows the status quo – with all its conflicts… Feo Aladag draws a clear picture of the present situation in Afghanistan in INBETWEEN WORLDS. A situation only very few people know about and even less are interested in. The daily routine of German soldiers, which lays in a cleavage between instructions and the pressing cultural circumstances, is described in a very realistic way. The question if the mission really changes something, or if it makes the situation even worse, is raised. Feo Aladag doesn’t recommend to take one or another position. But she asks for attention. Her unprejudiced view on the local society deserves this attention – as well as a war, which is marked by a shadowy existence in the German society.”
Handelsblatt

“Deeply touching. With a huge political and human importance.”
ZDF heute

“A consequent and remarkable movie.”
Programmkino.de

“The film forcefully shows why there are misunderstandings on both sides… A powerful film about the German military mission and the responsibility it brings along. INBETWEEN WORLDS succeeds in giving us an understanding of the dilemma in a way that news images cannot.”
ZDF Aspekte

“The film receives a Berlinale Bear because it gets to the core of a world of which we barely know more than what daily news media show us.”
ttt- titel, thesen, temperamente, ARD

“INBETWEEN WORLDS has the power to shape the image of this war for years to come.”
Der Spiegel

“Aladag cleverly interweaves two narratives with impressive images and little dialogue.”
Stuttgarter Zeitung

“After WHEN WE LEAVE, Feo Aladag’s second feature also convinces with impressive acting and a tight script. An incredibly important and striking film about the constant balancing act between the worlds.”
FBW – Deutsche Film- und Medienbewertung

“A clever film!”
Bild

“Powerful topic, brilliant images: a must-see! … With her second film, Feo Aladag proves that her celebrated directing debut WHEN WE LEAVE was not just a chance hit. With INBETWEEN WORLDS she tells a strong story, perfectly cast, where the conflicts and tensions are graspable. …A film with magnificent and authentic images, one can tell that it was shot on location. There are worlds between Aladag’s film and Mark Wahlberg’s war action that is also set in Afghanistan but was shot in the US. Germany scores.”
TV Spielfilm

“Special, consistent, remarkable!”
Biograph

“Utterly insightful!”
B.Z.

“Very, very thrilling. … Feo Aladag succeeds in showing fantastic images. The audience can notice, feel and gets taken along by the fact that this film was shot in Afghanistan. An important and interesting film!”
radioeins

“Intense, multilayered psychodrama with vivid images. Authentic and moving. … A forceful story about alienation and trust.”
TV Digital

“Distressingly realistic with a high degree of authenticity. A captivating war drama – worth seeing!”
TV Movie

“Authentic and moving!”
hörzu

“The film delivers a special cinema experience. Author, director and producer Feo Aladag took on the risk to shoot her story about war and the clash of cultures on location. This authenticity can be felt in every second oft he movie and develops a shimmering intensity one can barely escape from.”
Zitty

“After her directorial debut WHEN WE LEAVE, Feo Aladag continues her surprising success with a film combining elements of the war movie with those of the political thriller. An immensely dense psycho program of the life in war zones arises from this interaction.”
FILMSTARTS

“Impressive!”
WAZ

“For her new film, director Feo Aladag took the risk of going to Afghanistan. It was worth it! … Captivating, intense and thoughtful!”
Freundin

“INBETWEEN WORLDS will potentially shape the public image of the German Army’s engagement in Afghanistan for the coming years.”
loyal

“Red-hot!”
Madame

“Feo Aladag succeeds in making a film that the vividly shows the dilemma of the Afghanistan mission.”
Kölner Illustrierte

“A thematically and stilistically rich filmic approach with perspective. Worth seeing.”
Ruhrnachrichten

“A tackling, thought-provoking film that is very worthy of discussion.”
Hans-Ulrich Pönack

“…territories are bound to appreciate the realism and muscular shooting by a woman director and crew (shades of Kathryn Bigelowand Zero Dark Thirty) on location in northern Afghanistan. … The immediacy and tension with which Aladag conveys the daily life of the soldiers is something to take home.”
The Hollywood Reporter

“INBETWEEN WORLDS is a sensitive corrective to more partisan war dramas” and the “film’s visual palette, as well as its marriage of classic melodrama with contempo grit, is most strongly reminiscent of Susanne Bier´s earlier work; if seen in the right places, it’s slick enough to potentially secure her an English-language assignment.”
Variety

“It´s interesting to see a war movie from a female perspective. There are explosions, but it´s really not about the explosions. Rather, it´s about what connects people through war and how soldiers who are told to follow orders at all costs sometimes just can´t do it.”
WOMEN AND HOLLYWOOD

“Excellent!… INBETWEEN WORLDS aroused great enthusiasm in the competition of the Berlinale… A top notch staged film…the director shows the human and cultural tensions in a very accurate way.”
Translation of a German article in NZZ – Neue Zürcher Zeitung (Switzerland)

“For the first time, German cinema dares to tell a war story about its own army, about the current, not the past – without reservations and blandishing!”
Translation of a Spanish article in EL MUNDO (Spain)

“It’s political, it’s timely, it’s depressing, it’s unhappy, it’s a damn well made military thriller – what more could a Berlinale Jury ask for!”
Alexfarbafilm.com

“Aladag stages the hard everyday reality of the soldiers and fighters in a very effective and realistic way.”
Translation of a French article in La Libre (France)

“An important and worth seeing film …free of pathos…The film is a crucial contribution to the debate in which the new German Ministry of Defence von der Leyen invites the country to assume larger international responsibility.”
Translation of a German article in NZZ – Neue Zürcher Zeitung (Switzerland)

“The movie is characterised by intensity, confidence and the director’s talent for story telling. It shows someone is an expert in their trade when they do not feel the need to explain everything and can still lend a complex depth to characters without putting too many words into their mouths.”
Translation of a French article in Cineuropa (France)