Marjane Satrapi

[Rasputin]

Satrapi's Persepolis wins "Prix du Jury" at Cannes

The Jury Prize, a tie, was awarded by Jamel Debbouze to Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi ( co-director Vincent Paronnaud) and to Silent Light by Carlos Reygadas. The Jury Prize is one where the Entire Jury unanimously agrees on the best film. It contrasts with the Palm D'Or for which the jury can disagree amongst themselves but the final choice will depend on the result of the vote amongst them.

Ridley Scott was discovered as a promising filmmaker by winning the Prix du Jury for his first feature film The Duelists ( after directing Advertisments for 20 years) now considered as a cult film and its director is one of the most respected craftsmen in Hollywood. And Costa Gavras' "Z" is another one that can be remembered by film historians of Cannes.



The film screening was a hit in Cannes with a 20 minutes Standing Ovation by the audience.



Marjane Satrapi, once on stage, said: "I'll speak for both directors. We want to express our thanks Gilles Jacob and Thierry Frémaux for having selected our film. We thank the Jury for having awarded the Prize to us. We thank the whole crew of ninety people who worked with us for two years. Personally, although this film is universal, I wish to dedicate the prize to all Iranians."



Carlos Reygadas said: "Good evening. Thank you to Jaime, Natalia, Jean Labadie, the Festival, and the jurors."



At the laureates' press conference, Carlos Reygadas took the microphone to add the following: "It's a very important prize, because it helps us blaze a trail for other Mexican filmmakers and, even more, for filmmakers all over the world who are interested in a cinema which sometimes departs from the laws of total identification and clarification, a cinema that likes temporary ambiguity, that likes expression using means that are not always the customary ones (…) I feel very comfortable. I didn't expect everyone to be extremely well-disposed towards the film, especially after three screenings the same day. But the reality is that many people loved it. I find that incredibly touching. (…) I think powerful films are not for everyone. (...) I wasn't expecting any particular prize. I was ready to win everything, or win nothing. It's a very special prize, which doesn't really indicate whether the screenplay or the acting is the main subject of the award. It's a global prize."



Reacting to a complaint from Iran, France's Foreign Ministry Tuesday defended the Cannes Film Festival's decision to screen a movie that paints a bleak portrait of life after the Iranian revolution.

"Persepolis" is an animated adaptation of Marjane Satrapi's graphic novel about growing up in Iran during and after the 1979 revolution.

"Iranian authorities must understand that France is very attached to freedom of expression and freedom of creation," French Foreign Ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei said in Paris. "The festival chose the film ... It was nothing to do with politics."

Iran sent a letter to the French Embassy in Tehran protesting at the screening, Iran's semiofficial ISNA news agency reported this weekend.



Marjan Satrapi's movie was a critical and public success during the public screening last week which was applauded for more than 20 Minutes of Standing Ovation by the crew of Journalists and movie goers. It will be released in France in June and may well become a Summer Blockbuster.

[Rasputin]

فیلم خانم ساتراپی در هیأت یک اتوبیوگرافی به دوره*ای بیست*وچندساله از تاریخ معاصر ایران می*پردازد، اما نامش "پرسپولیس" است. انتخاب این عنوان اشاره*ای است به دغدغه*های میهن*پرستانه*ی فیلم*ساز و اهمیت سرزمین و تمدن کهن ایران در نزد او. حرف*ها، کنایه*ها و اشارات سیاسی در این فیلم کم نیست، با این همه به هیچ روی نمی*توان آن را اثری سیاسی دانست. راوی، تنها آن*چه را شخصاً طی سال*های قبل و بعد از انقلاب تجربه کرده، به تصویر می*کشد. این کار را هم با صداقت تمام انجام می*دهد و در این راه از طرح زوایای پنهان زندگی خصوصی خود نیز ابایی ندارد. اما مسأله این*جاست که زندگی او—بدون آن که بخواهد—همچون خیلی از هم*نسلانش متأثر از شرایط سیاسی این دوره*ی بیست*وچندساله است.


او هم که با خود قرار واقع*گرایی بی*پرده را دارد، ناچار به تأکید و تشریح این تأثیر و تأثر سیاسی است. پرهیز از اغراق از یک سو و نبودِ الزام به خودسانسوری از سوی دیگر—چنان*که شایسته*ی یک روایت "واقع*گرایانه" است—باعث شده تا طرح حقایق تاریخی سال*های پس از انقلاب، از نظر مسؤولین فرهنگی نظام جمهوری اسلامی به سیاسی بودن فیلم تعبیر شود.

اعدام زندانیان سیاسی، شیوه*های غیرمعقول تبلیغ مذهبی جنگ (ارائه*ی کلید بهشت به رزمندگان نوجوان برای ترویج روحیه*ی شهادت*طلبی)، سرخوردگی فعالان سیاسی رژیم شاه در سال*های پس از انقلاب، بسته شدن فضای فرهنگی—اجتماعی، رنگ باختن آرمان*های انقلاب، نادیده گرفتن ارزش*های انسانی و بالاخره کاهش محبوبیت و اعتبار ایران و ایرانی در جهان غرب، از جمله واقعیت*هایی است که بر زندگی "مرجی" و خانواده*اش تأثیرگذار بوده*اند؛ و به اندازه*ی کافی هم عریان و علنی*اند. در عین حال شیوه*ی روایتی که فیلم*ساز برگزیده هم به گونه*ای است که راه را بر روی هر گونه نفی یا طرد حقایق مورد اشاره می*بندد.

شخصیت معترض "مرجی" که به مرور زمان در قالب یک زن آگاه و معتقد به حقوق زنان شکل می*گیرد، از دیگر ویژگی*های فیلم است که نارضایتی مسؤولان فرهنگی کشور را برانگیخته. خودباوری، آگاهی، تلاش و مبارزه او از زمانی که با هم*بازی*هایش درصدد انتقام از امین، پسر مأمور ساواک، برمی*آید شروع می*شود و به اقدام شجاعانه در اعتراض به نحوه*ی پوشش خانم*ها در دانشگاه می*انجامد؛ بی آن*که مسیر افراط را در پیش گیرد. منطق و اعتدال در بندبند ساختار روایت رعایت شده، و دلخوری معترضین داخل کشور هم ظاهراً به این دلیل است که جوابی برای طرح منطقی حقایقی که سال*هاست به اثبات رسیده ندارند.

چند سال پیش همین دوستان تهدید کردند در صورت برگزاری مراسم رونمایی کتاب*های خانم ساتراپی در حاشیه*ی برنامه*ی مرور سینمای ایران در سینما تک پاریس، کپی تمام فیلم*های ایرانی را به تهران باز خواهند فرستاد. ظاهراً برای آن*ها زمان در همان سال*ها متوقف شده و توانایی دیدن ظاهر بی*پیرایه*ی واقعیت و رجوع به گذشته و بازخوانی آن را از زاویه*ی دید خانم ساتراپی ندارند.

مرجانه ساتراپی برنده جایزه هيأت داوران جشنواره کن

فیلم*ساز هرگز به طور مستقیم به مسأله*ی مذهب و نقد آن نمی*پردازد. اما تأثیر رویکردهای شبه*طالبانی به مذهب در دهه*ی نخست انقلاب بر زندگی خود، خانواده، و جامعه*ی پیرامونش را مورد توجه قرار می*دهد. تحکم و تسلط فضای پلیسی حاکم بر زندگی، کسب و کار، و روابط فردی و اجتماعی—بدون توجه به جایگاه و ارزش انسان—و به اسم "دین" ، موضوعی است که در چند سکانس به*یادماندنی از فیلم، به آن پرداخته می*شود.


پرسپولیس بیش از آن*که یک اتوبیوگرافی سرگرم*کننده باشد، یک اثر میهن*پرستانه است و در عین حال یک نوع اعاده*ی حیثیت، یک جور تصحیح و یادآوری تاریخ برای مخاطب فرنگی که این روزها یادش رفته تمدن و فرهنگ ایران در کجا ریشه دارد و حتی گاهی ایرانیان را عرب می*داند و زبان*شان را عربی...

اهمیت و نکته*ی تمایز نسخه*ی سینمایی نسبت به کتاب خانم ساتراپی در این است که شیوه*ی روایتی فیلم با هدف بازخوانی جامع و مانع و موجز از تاریخ و هویت ایرانی و مرور تاریخ معاصر ایران به زبانی ساده برای چنین مخاطبی به کار گرفته شده. طرح و یادآوری حقایقی ازجمله این*که عراق متجاوز و شروع*کننده*ی جنگ بوده، این*که انگلیس با هدف تاراج نفت ایران به بقای دیکتاتوری پهلوی کمک کرد یا این*که غرب حامی اصلی صدام و فراهم*کننده*ی سلاح*های مخوف کشتارجمعی بوده، در راستای همین نگاه میهن*پرستانه است که اتفاقاً باید به مذاق مسؤولین داخل خوش بیاید!

قضاوت درباره*ی یک فیلم، تنها با تکیه بر شنیده*ها و سوابق فیلم*ساز و صرفاً بر اساس پیش*فرض*ها دامنه*ی سوءتفاهم*ها و سوءتعبیرها را گسترده*تر می*کند. توصیه*ی من به این دوستان این است که به دور از پیش*داوری و غرض*ورزی، با رجوع به خود فیلم در مورد آن اظهارنظر کنند. پرسپولیس از هفته*ی آینده در سینماهای فرانسه منتظر شماست!

[Rasputin]

On the Occasion of the French Release of the Movie: PERSEPOLIS By Marjane Satrapi & Vincent Paronnaud



Wednesday 27 June 2007


The original artwork of Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud will be for sale by auction on the 20th of June at Espace Cardin in Paris for the benefit of the FIDH.



PERSEPOLIS, The Exhibit



25 Storyboards and original artwork will be exposed at the Arludik Gallery in Paris from May 9th to June 15th 2007:

https://www.arludik.com

12-14 rue St-Louis en l’Ile 75004 PARIS M° Pont Marie



Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud have this given persmission to sell the original artwork of the film, the sales of which will be given to the International League of Human Rights. The Gallery opened on May 9th with the authors.



IMPORTANT: The Auction will take place on June 20th at 19h00 at the Espace Pierre Cardin.

Also Limited editions will also be available for the Price of 90 euros. 5 euros will be funding

FIDH ( Fédération International de Droits de L’Homme).



SEE OFFICIAL WEBSITE WITH ITEMS:

http://www.fidh.org/article.php3?id_article=4278

For more feedback check out Satrapi’s myspace: www.myspace.com/persepolislefilm

[Rasputin]

Persepolis" travels to Japan

LONDON -- Dreamachine has sold Cannes jury prizewinner "Persepolis" to Longride for Japan.
Animated pic, based on Marjane Satrapi's bestselling graphic novels about a girl growing up during Iran's 1979 revolution, has been picked up in other major territories including by Optimum (for the U.K.), the Weinstein Co. (Australia), Prokino (Germany.)
Diaphana will release pic in France on June 27.
Sony Pictures Classics will release pic Stateside in the fall with a new English-language voice cast.
Catherine Deneuve, who voices character of Satrapi's mother in French-language original, will return for the Anglo redux, and will be joined by Gena Rowlands in the role of Satrapi's grandmother. The remaining American voice cast will be announced in July.

[Rasputin]

Writer/artist Marjane Satrapi used her experiences growing up in an increasingly fundamentalist Iran to craft Persepolis, a stunning example of the potential of the autobiographical graphic novel. Initially released in Satrapi's adoptive homeland of France by L'Association, the famed French publishing collective that features such luminaries as Epileptic author David B., Persepolis was an immediate critical smash hit, as was the later two-volume English edition published in the US by Pantheon. Satrapi's follow-up, Embroideries, took a more light-hearted turn by concentrating on the lives and loves of a group of Satrapi's gossipy friends and relatives. The book, though successful, was greeted with a decidedly more mixed reaction.



Happily, Satrapi is back in full force with Chicken With Plums, a new graphic novel whose English edition was released by Pantheon this month. The book again looks into Satrapi's past by telling the story of her great-uncle Nasser Ali Khan, a skilled musician who loses his favorite instrument and decides life is no longer worth living. Khan takes to his bed, intent on dying and eight days later, he does. Satrapi uses the story of his final days to tell a tale that is alternately heart-wrenching and hopeful, but always captivating.



We caught up with Satrapi in New York as she prepared to embark on a promotional tour of America that brings her to St. Louis this week, appearing at Left Bank Books at 399 N. Euclid at 7PM on October 24th, and the Mallinckrodt Center at Washington University for a special student luncheon at 11AM on October 25th. For more information, click here.



Interview conducted by Comics Editor Jason Green.



PLAYBACK:stl: The story of your great-uncle that you tell in your new book, Chicken With Plums, took place before you were born. Do you remember how old you were when you first heard the story, and how has your perception changed between when you first heard it and when you decided to make a comic out of it?



Marjane Satrapi: Well, I really didn't hear the story. The only thing that is true about the story is that I know that my great uncle was a musician, and I know he died for some strange reason that nobody knows about, but the rest of the story is made up by myself, actually. It's not a precise story of a precise person; all the names and all the faces and everything is changed, so all the story that you hear is a true story, but it doesn't correspond exactly to the people. Everything is changed, really, so you have to take it as a fiction book more than a real story.



Why did you decide to do a fiction story yet still use characters from your real life instead of entirely fictionalizing it?



First of all, I think, these stories exist in the family, they don't belong to one family and to one specific person, like for one character, you can have three different stories of three different people. I have another comic book that I will make after Chicken With Plums: Persepolis is really about between the 70s to the 90s, Chicken With Plums is the 50s up through the 70s, and I have another story that will be from 1910 until the 50s and 60s. It's going to be like a trilogy but backwards, and after you have all these books together, through a family saga you will have a little bit of feeling of the atmosphere and how things were in the specific place that is Iran.



You know, you always write about the things that you like the most, and my family is probably what I like the most.



One of the interesting artistic choices I noticed in the new book is your use of panel borders.



For me, the structure of the story was extremely important, and how to go backward and forward [in time] without saying, "And you remember 7 years ago..." and "In 20 years..." Whatever was concerned with [Nasser], there was no frame; whatever belongs to the past, it's in a frame and the background is black; and whenever we come in has a frame and the background is white. That's a graphic thing that let's you understand it so you can go back and forth without any problem.



The other thing I really wanted is this book to look like the story. The story is about 8 days of life, and 8 days of life is extremely short but is extremely dense at the same time, and that's why the book looks the way it looks. I have all these very small drawings, one after the other, one after the other, that it doesn't have any space. I did that on purpose. I could have made bigger drawings and make a much thicker book, but then it wouldn't look like 8 days of life. I wanted to have something that is extremely dense and extremely short at the same time.



How does that compare to your last book, Embroideries, where almost all of the illustrations were full page?



It's a very good thing you're pointing out. It's because Embroideries is a conversation. That's why the format is much smaller, with no frames. The graphic style is much more open like that, much more freestyle, because I wanted the book to look like a conversation. You go in whenever you want, you get out whenever you want, you can open to any page and read a couple of pages, so the book for me looks also like a conversation.



Persepolis, for example, is a book that is very much about how it was and explaining to people how things [happened], so you have the chapters, and it's extremely mathematical, and you have frames. I always try for each of my books for the layout of the book, the format of the book, the graphic treatment, will look like the story I'm talking about.



Writing this new book, was it difficult to adjust to writing from the perspective of your great-uncle as opposed to your previous books, which were from your own perspective?



I should tell you something, Jason: I never felt as free as when I made Chicken With Plums, because here my main character is a man. That is where I feel the most free to really express myself. In all my other books, actually [drawing myself or even another woman], I make a kind of self-censorship, in the way that I know that people will know it's me, so there's things that I wouldn't say. I think there is nobody closer to me because this guy, he's completely nasty, he's unbearable, he's an *******, [laughs] but at the same time he's very charming, and that's the way I think I am. I think I am charming, but I am completely unbearable at the same time. I really felt extremely free, and that is why I can tell you, that this is my favorite book of my own.



As your books get more popular worldwide, do you find yourself taking a more global audience into account as you're creating them or do you keep going with your usual approach?



Listen, it would be a lie if I tell you that I don't care about people, because in the word ‘publishing' you have the word ‘public' so you are addressing yourself to a public, but I have the same relationship to the public as I had before. I always know that I'm telling the story to someone else, but when I am working, it's such a moment of grace for me. When I'm creating it, I'm really with myself, I'm in my studio, I can concentrate. At the moment I am creating, nothing else exists around me but the story and myself and my characters, and the rest of the thing comes afterwards.



So, no, it has not changed, you know, I'm the same person. I have even not changed my friends...I'm not a star****er, you know. This whole idea of being a diva and a star and all of that, you know, the only thing that has changed is as I gain more money, if I want to buy myself pencils I don't have to wait until the beginning of the month to be able to do it. I can buy all the materials I want at once. [laughs]



One of the more unusual things in the new book is the appearance of the Angel of Death, Azrael, which is really the only fantastic element in what is otherwise a very true-to-life story.



Yes, the angel is a big part of my culture. Actually, my grandmother every single day pretended that she saw him, that the Angel of Death was coming. What I drew is very much what she described to me as the Angel of Death. She was, all the time, playing with me, like, ‘Oh, I am going to die!' so that I would love her more. It's really a part of my culture, and I love this person, because death is part of life also. I wanted to write the story not only about the love story, about who the artist was, but it's also a lot about death. It's something that we ignore and never want to talk about, and it's part of life. This angel really symbolized death for me.



It is also a comment that there really is a moment that you have to die, and you will die no matter what you do.



One last question for you: I understand Persepolis is being made into a movie. How did that come about, and what's the progress on it so far?



It really happened just two-and-a-half years ago. I discussed with a friend of mine who wanted to become a producer, and he said ‘Let's make it.' Then I said, ‘I want an animated movie, and I want it in black and white, and I want to work with my best friend.' So I'm working with my best friend, and together we have co-wrote and co-directed the movie, and it's almost, almost, on the last line. We are going to finish it in April to be able to release it-if it's possible, we hope so-at the Cannes Festival in 2007. For the American version, I will come to the United States in July or August 2007 to make the American voices.

[Rasputin]

Advertising for "Persepolis", Marjane Satrapi's animated movie, in center of Paris. The movie will be screened, starting June 27th.

[Rasputin]

Thai film festival drops controversial Iranian film

BANGKOK (AFP) - Award-wining Iranian film "Persepolis" has been dropped from line-up at the 2007 Bangkok International Film Festival after pressure from the Iranian embassy, organisers said Wednesday.



The film, which jointly won the Jury Prize at the Cannes film festival in May, was scheduled to screen on the opening night of the 10-day festival in the Thai capital, which begins July 19.

"We have withdrawn Persepolis ... on the request of the Iranian embassy," said Chattan Kunjara Na Ayudhaya, public relations director at the Tourism Authority of Thailand, which hosts the festival.

Iranian embassy officials confirmed that they had asked organisers to drop the animated black-and-white film, which tells the story of a young girl growing up in revolutionary Iran.

The film, based on comics by its co-director Marjane Satrapi, recounts the downfall of the shah followed by the imposition of Islamic law after the 1979 revolution, seen through the eyes of an eight-year-old.

She grows into an outspoken teenager and is sent away to Austria to avoid clashes with the authorities.

A cultural officer at the Iranian embassy in Bangkok told AFP they believed the film portrayed a bad image of their country.

"They tried to make Iranian people sad and upset with the Islamic revolution, which is not true," said Mohammad, who gave only one name.

"We appreciate that the Thai organisers understand, and now we are trying to introduce other good award-winning Iranian films," he added.

[Rasputin]

Marjane Satrapi – new literary phenomenon in comics

I cannot praise enough Marjane Satrapi's moving account of growing up as a spirited young girl in revolutionary and war-time Iran. Persepolis is disarming and often humorous but ultimately it is shattering." Joe Sacco, author of Palestine and Safe Area Gorazde

Over the last ten years the international comic strip scene has undergone a real rebirth. In the wake of Art Spiegelman and his masterpiece Maus, a comic strip story about the life of his father, a Polish Jew who survived deportation to Auschwitz, a group of authors from different parts of the world continues to present autobiographical stories in comic strip form. With his comic strip reportage in the books Palestine and Goradze, Joe Sacco, of Maltese origin, has demonstrated that the comic can also be used as a journalistic medium and the Canadian Julie Doucet has made us grieve with the stories of her comic strip diary. The Swedes, Max Andersson and Lars Sjunesson, have mixed surrealist fiction with true life in their travelogues through the Balkans, the Croatian Helena Klakocar has given us a splendid account taken from a travelogue with her family in the Adriatic Sea at the beginning of the war in Yugoslavia and finally, a group French authors - Joelle Manix, Matt Konture, Lewis Trondheim, Joann Sfar, David B and Marjane Satrapi – have understood that the comic strip as a medium does not have to be limited only to fiction. Marjane Satrapi chose the right moment to appear on the international scene of new comics with Persepolis, her comic strip debut in autobiographical form, which is also the first Iranian comic book (even if the first edition was published in French by the French publishers of Paris L’Association). There are many important artists in Iran in the fields of literature, cinema and caricature, but comics do not exist there and so Marjane Satrapi, influenced by the French Bande Dessinée has filled the semantic vacuum. At the beginning of her career in drawing, Marjane, who studied Fine Arts in Tehran and Art in Strasbourg, was influenced by the American graphic artist Milton Glaser and wanted to become a famous graphic designer. Her first successes came with children’s books. The decisive turning point in the life of Marjane Satrapi came when she moved to Paris where she met a group of young French artists - Joann Sfar, Émile Bravo, Christophe Blain, David B. and Emmanuel Guibert – who published comics for a living. These young men invited her to share their studio (workshop ‘des Vosges’) and in particular David B., who with his Cronaca del Grande Male, an intense autobiographical account of epilepsy experienced by his brother Jean-Christophe, opened Marjane’s eyes and encouraged her to express her story in comic strip form.

[abadani69]

"پرسپوليس" هيچ گاه از حرکت نمي ايستد؛ فيلمي با شخصيت هاي واقعي و با تمامي امکانات يک سينماي مدرن. پرسپوليس در ميان ديگر کتاب هاي مصور بيشتر مانند يک رمان است تا مجموعه اي از کليشه هاي فرانسوي يا بلژيکي. درواقع مي توان پرسپوليس را به عنوان يک "رمان گرافيکي" چهار جلدي به حساب آورد.

در اين کتاب، اتوبيوگرافي تراژيک و در عين حال فکاهي مرجي [مرجان ساتراپي] که در کودکي خود شاهد ظهور حکومت "ريشو"هاست به تصوير کشيده شده؛ حکومتي که با بدرفتاري و اقدامات خود مرجان را آزار مي دهد [شکنجه، اعدام عمو، مرگ يکي از دوستان در زمان فرار از عوامل منکراتي، ...]. همان طور که مي دانيم ايران به طور رسمي از طريق بنيادي که به وزارت فرهنگ و ارشاد مربوط مي شود، نسبت به نمايش اين فيلم در جشنواره کن اعتراض کرد: "فيلمي دروغين که تصوير نادرستي از انقلاب اسلامي تداعي مي کند". اين فيلم که شنيده مي شد نخل طلايي را از آن خود خواهد کرد، در نهايت جايزه ويژه هيأت داوران را به دست آورد.

ازطرف ديگر مي توان گفت که با انتخاب چيارا ماستروياني، کاترين دونو و دانيل داريو در صداگذاري اعضاي يک خانواده ايراني، گام بزرگي در اين فيلم برداشته شده است.

آغاز کنندگان اين پروژه دو نفرند: مرجان ساتراپي و ونسان پارونو با نام مستعار "وينشلوس". مرجان ساتراپي مي گويد: "زماني که در کافه مي نشستيم و سناريو را مي نوشتيم، دستمان باز بود و محدوديتي وجود نداشت. مي توانستيم بي اندازه بنويسيم، ولي ازطرف ديگر به اين موضوع نيز فکر مي کرديم که تنها يک سوم از ايده هاي ما قابل اجرا خواهد بود. اما در اجراي تمام آنها موفق بوديم."

پارونو نيز در اين خصوص مي گويد: "ما خود نسبت به موضوعي که از آزادي صحبت مي کرد، آزادي کامل داشتيم. هيچ گاه براساس افکار عمومي چيزي را محدود نکرديم و عليرغم تمامي سختي ها هر چه را که مي خواستيم نوشتيم." و در نهايت نيز اثر منسجم و يکپارچه اي خلق شد؛ اثري بسيار روان که در آن از شيوه ها و سطوح مختلف کم و بيش کاوشگر و کم و بيش طعنه آميز بهره گرفته شده. در بين صحنه هاي زيباي اين فيلم مي توان به صحنه اي اشاره کرد که صندلي راحتي مرجي به شکلي نامحسوس تبديل به سنگ قبر مي شود.

بي شک اين دو کارگردان در اين انجام اين پروژه تنها نبوده اند و درست مانند رهبران يک ارکستر، حضار و تهيه کنندگان جستجوگر را به تشويق و تقدير واداشتند و اين مهم عملي نبود جز با کمک فيلمسازان انيميشن و دستياران آنها. مرجان ساتراپي در اين خصوص مي گويد: "همه خود را وقف اين پروژه کردند و کارشان بيشتر از حد معمول بود. به همين دليل بود که اين پروژه قبل از موعد مقرر به پايان رسيد."

مرجان ساتراپي و ونسان پارونو از زمان جشنواره کن تاکنون ماراتني از مصاحبه ها را پيموده اند و در چندين جلسه بازبيني فيلم نيز شرکت جسته اند. آنها را در برابر فيلم مي نشانند تا نظر خود را پلان به پلان بيان کنند. مرجان ساتراپي تصاوير را يک به يک مي نگرد تا اشتباهات جزئي را "تا حد وسواس" شناسايي کند؛ تا حدي که پي ببرد زيبايي اثرش به دليل نقص هاي موجود در آن نيز مي تواند باشد.

[Rasputin]

Taste of censorship

Ten years ago the Islamic Republic of Iran, in what many regarded as a charade, 'mulled' barring director Abbas Kiarostami’s Taste of Cherry from the Cannes film festival. The film went on to become co-winner of the Palme d’Or, arguably buoyed by the publicity Iran’s threatened withdrawal generated.

Ten years on and another Iranian film, this time funded by French money, is co-winner at Cannes of the Jury prize – France ignored the mullahs’ protests and the film was allowed to take part.

The 2007 Bangkok international film festival, which kicks off this month, however, was not so bold. Last month, in a coup for Iran’s Islamist censor, Thai authorities agreed to withdraw Persepolis, the film version of Marjane Satrapi’s acclaimed autobiographical graphic novel of the same name, from the festival.

“[The filmmakers] tried to make Iranian people sad and upset with the Islamic revolution, which is not true,” a spokesman for the Iranian embassy in Bangkok told AFP last week. (Charmingly, he identified himself only as ‘Mohammed’.)

He added: “We appreciate that the Thai organisers understand, and now we are trying to introduce other good award-winning Iranian films.”

This last statement is worth note because it confirms the fact that the Islamic Republic believes in the PR value of its film output, even if Iranian directors are reluctant to accept they might be acting as facilitators in this regard.

Most are long-dogged by the complaint that they fail to use the high profile afforded by the international festival circuit, to talk about the elephant in the living room of atrocities under the Islamic Republic. Their stock response is that art operates above, or separately from, politics.

But while that’s academic, one thing is clear: Iran’s directors have signed no letter to any newspaper in Marjane Satrapi’s (and co-director Vincent Paronnaud’s) defence, condemning the decision to ban Persepolis in Bangkok.

They must be asked, is the plight of Satrapi’s film a political issue they cannot touch or a simply matter of cinema, the medium they so often, in romantic terms, claim to adore? (“Oh, the lights! How I used, as a boy, to cherish Uncle Hasan projecting Murnau’s Nosferatu onto the side of our house in Tehran for all our neighbours to see. Even Ali the butcher was enthralled by the magic of the lights! Oh, cinema!”)

Satrapi is important because she is one of few Iranian artists operating outside the Persian language sphere, who is scathing about the Islamic Republic and the US government in equal measure, while offering a sophisticated window on the culture of her homeland.

It is still not too late for Iranian film-makers to shoot off a few letters to the press in her defence and get the Thai authorities to overturn the decision to bar the film on the grounds of what the mullahs claim is the 'Islamophobic' thrust of its narrative.

I believe the international film community should boycott the Bangkok film festival and that Iran's acclaimed directors should speak out for Satrapi and Paronnaud. Otherwise we can expect more festivals to follow Bangkok's example and toe the Islamic Republic's line.

[Rasputin]

Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud' film Persepolis is out for national release in France today June 27th 2007.



The French Press unanimously hails the Cannes Jury Prize film as a masterpiece in its genre and see is not as animated cartoon but a film in its own right.



From the Right Wing newspaper Le Figaro, to Left Wing Humanite and Liberation or Centrist Le Monde and last but not least Royalist ( aka Monarchist and not to do with Segolène) Point de Vue Images Du Monde Magazine ALL recognize the movie's humanistic message and cinematographic qualities in breaking down stereotypes on Iranians and Iran as well as for its style that is equally inspired from Walt Disney’s Dreamlike style as well as from Italian neo-Realism and German Expressionist Cinema.



The film is meant to become a summer blockbuster has already its aficianados amongst the comic book fans worldwide ever since the publication and translation of Marjane Satrapi's personal account of her experiences growing up in post Revolution Iran and in exile in Austria and France.





Some of the comments in French on the Movie



Libération - Eric Loret (4 Stars)

Persepolis ne pose jamais ses bagages, il fait sa crèche et la démonte, avec une idée par minute pour réinventer le monde. (...) C'est un film avec de vraies gens, avec toutes les possibilités d'un cinéma moderne (...)



Les Inrockuptibles - Jean-Baptiste Morain (4 Stars)
"Persepolis" est un film de mélange, où tout est permis pour atteindre à l'expression la meilleure, la plus juste (...) Satrapi et Paronnaud déploient toute la palette de leur talent et leur inventivité (...)



Le Journal du Dimanche - Barbara Théate (4 Stars)
Persepolis a tout d'un grand film. Et pas seulement d'animation.



Score - Jérôme Momcilovic (4 stars)
Autant l'avouer, on y allait un peu à reculons. (...) (mais) Persepolis est à la fois plus intime et plus universel que ça, et remporte la mise sur les deux tableaux. (...) un vrai film de cinéma.
Le Monde - Jacques Mandelbaum (4 Stars)
Une dimension rarement utilisée dans le dessin animé, celle de l'autofiction (...) Ce film témoigne de qualités humaines et artistiques qui le destinent, bien au-delà de la trame historique et du drame intime, à un public universel.



Télé 7 Jours - Viviane Pescheux (3 Stars)
(...) un film drôle, inventif et percutant (...)



Elle - Héléna Villovitch (3 Stars)
(...) le film offre un spectacle chatoyant et lumineux, régal sensuel en clair-obscur, comme une version contemporaine des "Mille et Une Nuits" (...) Grâce et talent.



Cahiers du Cinéma - Thierry Méranger (3 Stars)
Emouvant militantisme esthétique, que cette humble politique de corps animés.



Première - Olivier de Bruyn (3 Stars)
On connaissait la BD (...) émerveillés, on découvre le film qui (...) réussit l'exploit de provoquer le même effet euphorique et émotionnel. Inventif au détour de chaque scène, d'une simplicité déconcertante (...) Parmi ses (très) nombreuses qualités Persépolis est un film intègre.



MCinéma.com - Hugo de Saint Phalle (3 Stars)
Le film de Marjane Satrapi et Vincent Paronnaud flatte l'oeil par un style visuel élégant et racé, magnifique de contraste (...) Bourré de clins d'oeil, extrêmement rythmé, ponctué de dialogues percutants qui n'hésitent pas à verser dans le potache, Persepolis est une vraie comédie sociale.



20 Minutes - Stéphane Leblanc ( 2 Stars)
Les fans de Persepolis ne seront pas dépaysés. Toute la BD est là, synthétisée avec un art maîtrisé de l'ellipse en 1 h 35 d'aplats joliment animés en noir et blanc. Même les dialogues, souvent truculents, sont repris de la BD. Rien de révolutionnaire donc, ni d'inédit.

[Michellica]

Here in Italy in those days there's a movie festival for young ppl..there are children from all around the world..but the iranians refused to come because of this film...

long life to brainwashing lol

[Rasputin]

The success of Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis in France has now drawn interest on her other albums and future projects of her money making and critically acclaimed franchise.

Satrapi will be staging her Album Broderies for a unique representation that based on its success will probably be prolonged and go on tour.

It will be staged this fall at the prestigious Rond Point Theater down the Champs Elysee in Paris.


Little is known about who will be playing in the Play but Satrapi is most probably going to direct it and maybe play her own role, but that is not yet confirmed or denied.

Jean Michel Ribbes who heads the Theater is known for staging many avant garde plays and particularly those of Irish dramatist and 1969 Nobel Prize in Literature: Samuel Beckett.

Taking her Comic Book to a new level of expression and experience announces a new start for Satrapi who has expressed interest in exploring other arena's in the Arts and directing.

[Rasputin]

Sean Penn and Iggy Pop have signed on as voice talent for the English-language version of Sony Picture Classics' toon 'Persepolis.'

The recruits join the already-announced Gena Rowlands and Catherine Deneuve for the animated toon based on Marjane Satrapi's autobiographical, bestselling graphic novel growing up in Iran during the 1979 revolution.



The lead character of Satrapi in the French version was Chiara Mastroianni, Deneuve's daughter, but unless further notice ***sten Dunst star of Sophia Coppola’s drama’s ( Marie Antoinette, Virgin Suicides )will be doing the voice over for the English version.



Penn will play Satrapi's long-suffering father while Pop will voice the role of the young girl's rebellious and politically active uncle.



Work on the English-version dub will begin this summer. The Picture will be released Stateside in the fall and producers are trying to ready an English-language version in time for its preem at the Toronto Film Festival in September.



'I think it's very good that these two actors have accepted. It will give the film another boost,' said Hengameh Panahi, Dreamachine co-topper, the new international sales company combining Panahi's Celluloid Dreams and Jeremy Thomas' Hanway Films.



Celluloid Dreams handled international sales of the pic, which was produced by Marc-Antoine Robert and Xavier Rigault of 2.4.7. Films; Kathleen Kennedy exec-produced, in co-production with France 3 Cinema, and brought Sony Pictures Classics on board to handle the U.S. release.



The Picture has been a smash in Gaul since its release. The Toon has grossed $3.7 million over two frames, and seen its release expanded from 199 prints to 370.



Though born Iran in 1969, Satrapi now lives in Paris. 'Persepolis' has been at the center of a feud with Iranian authorities for its wry, satirical take on the oppressive life under the rule of the mullahs ever since its preem at Cannes, where it shared the Jury Prize with Carlos Reygadas' 'Silent Light.'



Iranian government officials slammed the Cannes jury's decision as an example of 'Islamophobia,' per Mehdi Kalhor, a cultural adviser to Iranian prexy Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The Bangkok Intl. Film Festival dropped the pic as its opener following a request from the Iranian embassy in Bangkok.



The US release of Persepolis is much expected this Fall. It is all the more interesting that it is probably the very first film about the Iranian Revolution and its social, historical and cultural effects on Iranian society. It is also a breakthrough for the Arts for the Iranian Diaspora Community that has settled worldwide and particularly in Europe and the United States. Although the film remains strangely enough a French Film on an Iranian subject, it will escape no one that it is also a pertinent illustration of life in exile regardless of what community or ethnic group one could belong too. The already International success of the comic books by the author turned director will certainly guarantee the films success off Seas. The reaction of the American audience to this film will certainly be of particular interest, given the current and past diplomatic crisis ( US hostages were held for 444 Days in Tehran by Islamic militants upon the victory of the Revolution 1979) between Iran and the United States.



Marjan Satrapi’s self derision, ironic humor and at times harsh outlook on life both in the West and in Iran nevertheless successfully carry an emotionally powerful and humanistic message through her film. In many ways the film seems to also have matured her both as an artist and an intellectual. Her hypersensitiveness or as the French would say her “écorché vive” side that was much more apparent in the comic book seems to have been replaced by a more balanced view of the events of 1979 that shook her country and the lives of many of her compatriots, either forced to exile or inner silence in order to survive. In addition the film allows a certain necessary distance between Mrs. Satrapi the author and Marjan the cartoon hero which may not have been entirely the case in the original comic book on which the animated film is based on. Persepolis, the film is indeed the result of two years of a fruitful collaboration of two minds and talents. That of Marjane Satrapi and co-director Vincent Paronnaud. An Iranian Woman and a Frenchman united by a common humor and complimentary style that enriches the story and its universal message.



It should be noted that the French animation was created only after recording the voices of the actors and cast. It allowed more freedom and invention for the initial French cast unlike the English version which will only be dubbed for this purpose. The same could be said for any other language version. It may be a detail but it does have its importance in that the initial cast truly imposed their personal style and personalities to their animated characters. Apart from Catherine Deneuve nearly all the other characters will be replaced by an American Cast who are equally talented but may not entirely render the very French and Persian Humor that are clearly interconnected in the film including for the accents. Nevertheless Satrapi and Paronnaud’s cinematic culture and interests do reflect in the choice of the American Cast. Sean Penn’s and Gena Rowland’s filmography is strongly associated to independent films and the Independent Art World to which the French Iranian duo director’s belong to and admire. Rowland in particular like her French counter part Danielle Darrieux, is equally a film Legend and iconic figure of America’s most respected Independent director John Cassavetes who spearheaded the “auteur” approach at odds with Hollywood Studio’s. The choice of the other members of the American Cast is also pertinent. Iggy Pop a Rock Star to play the role of Satrapi’s Communist Grandpa who also happens to have been a Qajar Prince may seem strange at first but it is also justified by Satrapi’s invisible tribute to a music genre she actually cherishes: Punk and Hard Rock Music.



As for the title role of Marjan being played by ***sten Dunst the choice seems quite odd and yet justifiable. In many ways ***sten Dunst is the quintessential American Teenage looking Star of Sophia Coppola’s drama’s that do find parallels with Satrapi’s often dark and disillusioned humor. Marie Antoinette and Virgin Suicides are very much autobiographical in Coppola’s filmography. Indeed the director of the Oscar Awarding Lost in Translation often depicts the malaise of her generation and the difficulties of communicating in a World that ignores its protagonists. Marie Antoinette is not in my opinion the most memorable movie on the Former beheaded Queen of France but it does take bold steps in film narration and historical depiction very much like Satrapi in the use of music and cultural anachronism’s. Even if Satrapi would most probably have been a Revolutionary in 18th Century France, her Qajar inheritance ( True or False) would probably have made her understand if not share the lonely disillusionments of the French Queen’s Royal upbringing.

However the choice of Dunst if confirmed may be more due to the American executive Producer Kathleen Kennedy who may logically prefer to invest on a trendy name and face in Hollywood albeit only recognizable through her voice.

[Rasputin]

Not a Day seems to pass in the Country of Molière, without reading in the French Press at least one positive review of Marjane Satrapi’s Cannes Jury Prized film Persepolis. To speak of a Persepolis Generation of die hard Fans would not be exaggerated all the more that they are not even Iranian but often French nationals. The Prestigious Studio Magazine has like many other Cinema Magazines covering new feedback on the movie’s Box office and Critical Success. A French fan comments that Persepolis is one of those films that SHOULD be compulsory in school screenings. Others notice that the Film unjustly boycotted by the Iranian dictatorial regime of President Ahmadinejad for being anti-Islamic is turning into a political manifesto against intolerance in all its forms all the more that the American Cast is being completed by Sean Penn and Iggy Pop two Celebrities at the forefront of political activism in Hollywood.



After luring approximately 289,036 paying viewers to the movie theaters in its first week of public release, Persepolis has easily joined the Top of the French Box Office Summer Hits by reaching out to One Million viewers in less than two months since its release.



For those (often Iranian compatriots) who doubted that the story of a childhood growing up in Revolutionary Iran would be a “failure” and “uncinematical”, the recent figures published by STUDIO Magazine prove the contrary.