Persepolis / Persepolis

country, year

France/USA, 2007

genre

animation

running time

95′

directed by

Marjane Satrapi

language

French

subtitles

Slovene

synopsis

This animated film, which won an award at the Cannes film festival, is about growing up in the repressive Iranian society during the late Shah regime and the Islamic revolution. Bitter-sweet adventures of little Marjane.

Teheran, 1978. Eight year old Marjane dreams about becoming a prophet and saving the world. She is growing up with her open-minded parents and a loving grandmother and together with them she is attentively following the downfall of the Shah’s brutal regime. The establishment of the new Islamic republic foretells the era of “the guardians of the revolution”, which surveil the behaviour of the population. Marjane now has to wear a head scarf, but her dreams of the revolution are becoming stronger and stronger. During the war with Iraq, her city is being bombed, there is general scarcity, people are disappearing and the repression is worse and worse every day. Marjane becomes more rebellious, so her parents send her to Austria, where at the age of 14 she gets to know a completely different kind of “revolution”: puberty, liberty and love, but also the bitter taste of life in a foreign country.

about the author

Marjane Satrapi: born in 1969 in Iran, she grew up in Teheran and she recently has been living in Paris. She wrote and illustrated award-winning comic books Persepolis, Broderies and Poulet aux prunes.

Vincent Paronnaud: born in 1970 in La Rochell, France. Comic book artists (he often collaborates with Ciz), his distinguishing mark is his dark humour.

festivals, awards (selection)

Cannes 2007 (jury prize), Cinemanila 2007 (special jury mention), Ottawa 2007 (Mercury Filmworks Prize for Best Animated Feature)