Francija/France, 2007, 35 mm, črno-bel/ black and white, 95’. V francoščini s slovenskimi podnapisi. / In French with Slovene subtitles.
režija/directed by: Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Paronnaud
scenarij/script: Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Paronnaud
avtorica stripov/author of the original graphic novels: Marjane Satrapi
umetniški direktor/art director: Marc Jousset
animacija/animation: Christian Desmares, Thierry Peres
montaža/editing: Stéphane Roche
glasba/music: Olivier Bernet
zvok /sound: Thierry Lebon
glasovi/voices: Chiara Mastrtoianni (Marjane), Catherine Deneuve (Tadji), Danielle Darrieux (Marjanina babica/Marjane’s Grandmother), Simon Abkarian (Ebi), Gabrielle Lopes (Marjane), Francois Jerosme (stric Anouche/Uncle Anouche)
producent/produced by: Marc-Antoine Robert, Xavier Rigault
Nagrade/Awards
Cannes 2007 (nagrada žirije/jury prize), Cinemanila 2007 (posebna nagrada žirije/special jury mention), Ottawa 2007 (nagrada za najboljši animirani celovečerni film Mercury Filmworks/Mercury Filmworks Prize for Best Animated Feature)
Teheran, 1978. Eight-year-old Marjane dreams of becoming a prophetess and saving the world. She is raised by progressive parents and a loving grandmother, they witness the collapse of the Shah’s brutal regime. The foundation of the new Islamic republic announces the age of the “guardians of the revolutions”, who control people. Now Marjane has to cover her face, and her dreams of revolution grow even stronger. In the war against Iraq, the city is bombed, there is shortage everywhere, people go missing and the repression is worse every day. Marjane is more rebellious every day, so her parents send her to Austria, where she gets to know a different kind of “revolution” at the age of fourteen: puberty, freedom and love, but also the bitter taste of life in a foreign country.
Biography
Marjane Satrapi was born in 1969. She grew up in Tehran where she attended the Lycée Français (French high school). She then studied in Vienna before she relocated to France in 1994. In Paris, through fellow comic book artists, she was introduced into the Atelier des Vosges, an artist studio which gathered major, contemporary comic book artists. In her first graphic novel, Persepolis 1, published by L’Association in November 2000, Marjane told the story of the first ten years of her life until the overthrow of the Shah regime and the outbreak of the Iraq-Iran war. In Persepolis, published in October 2001, she described the Iraq-Iran war and her teenage years until she left for Vienna at the age of fourteen. Persepolis 2 dealt with her exile in Austria and her return to Iran. Since then, she has published Embroideries (Broderies) and Chicken with Plums (Poulet aux Prunes). Persepolis is co-directed with Vincent Paronnaud, and is her first feature film.
Vincent Paronnaud a.k.a. Winshluss, was born in 1970 in La Rochelle. He is a major underground comic book artist. Together with his friend and collaborator Cizo, he invented the character of Monsieur Ferraille, the emblematic figure of the comic Ferraille Illustré, which he co-edited with Cizo and Felder. His solo projects include Super Négra (1999), Welcome to the Death Club and Pat Boon – Happy End (2001). He gained public recognition when he earned a nomination for Smart Monkey in 2004 and for Wizz and Buzz (with Cizo) in 2007 at the Angoulême Comic Book Festival. Winshluss and Cizo have also co-directed two shorts animations: O’Boy What Nice Legs (B&W, 1min, 2004) Raging Blues (B&W, 6min, 2003).
Izjava režiserke
“The first screening for the whole team in a theatre on the Champs-Elysées. At the end, I was crying, and so was the whole audience. Iran is still in the headlines today. Even though you want the film to be universal, you can’t stop people from seeing it in this light… True. Although in my eyes the most exotic section takes place in Vienna. The film is not judgmental, it doesn’t say, ‘this is right and that is wrong’ it just shows that the situation has many layers. This isn’t a politically oriented film with a message to sell. It is first and foremost a film about my love for my family. However, if Western audiences end up considering Iranians as human beings just like the rest of us, and not as abstract notions like – ‘Islamic fundamentalists’, ‘terrorists’, or the ‘Axis of Evil’, then I’ll feel like I’ve done something. Don’t forget that the first victims of fundamentalism are the Iranians themselves.” Marjane Satrapi
Film Comments
“Any stragglers still unconvinced that animation can be an exciting medium for both adults and kids will run out of arguments in the face of Persepolis. Like the four-volume series of graphic novels on which it’s based, this autobiographical tour de force is completely accessible and art of a very high order.” Lisa Nesselson, Variety
“A mix of charming, early Hanna-Barbera colouring-book simplicity, and more atmospheric watercolours or charcoals that suggest a ‘60s and ‘70s European sensibility. The delicately modulated tones of Persepolis are similarly sophisticated. It veers from hilarious to poignant, sweet to terrifying, abstract to concrete, personal to political, cynical to rhapsodic... and back again.”Jim Emersonn, Scanners
“A fresh, moving, out-of-the-gate masterpiece – a work of animation that manages to be artistically brilliant, politically rich, morally engaging and emotionally overwhelming.”James Rocchi, Cinematical
“Not only a sour criticism of intolerance but especially a vibrating call for the universal rights for freedom, democracy and love. By using very simple but powerful designs, the authors of Persepolis succeeded in creating a unique and original cinematographic language in which humanism and feelings are emerging.” Ottawa International Animation Festival