FRENCH FILM FEST STARTS WEDNESDAY, OCT. 19 WITH PERSEPOLIS

Wednesday, October 19, 2011
                                 
PERSEPOLIS
Persepolis is the poignant story of a young girl coming of age in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. It is through the eyes of this precocious nine year old, Marjane, that we see a people's hopes dashed as fundamentalists take power - forcing the veil on women and imprisoning thousands. Clever and fearless, she outsmarts the “social guardians” and discovers punk, ABBA and Iron Maiden. Yet when her uncle is executed and bombs fall around Tehran, during the Iraq/Iran war, the daily fear that permeates life in Tehran is palpable. As she gets older, her parents worry for her safety and decide to send her to school in Vienna when she turns fourteen. Vulnerable and alone in a strange land, Marjane endures the typical ordeals of a teenager. She also has to combat being equated with the religious fundamentalism she is trying to escape. Over time she finds acceptance and even love but remains terribly homesick. Marjane decides to return to Iran to be close to her family. After a difficult period of adaptation, she enters art school and gets married, all the while continuing to speak against the hypocrisy she witnesses. At age 24 she realizes that although she loves her country she cannot live there anymore and she decided to leave for France. 
“The same history translated into a live-action drama could never be depicted with the clarity and narrative drive that bold, simple animation encourages.”   Stephen Holden, The New York Times

SEE THE TRAILER AT:   http://www.sonypictures.com/classics/persepolis/

DIRECTOR                                                                           AWARDS
Marjane Satrapi & Vincent Paronnaud                                    Jury Prize, Cannes Film Festival (2007)

                                                                                          2007 Best animated feature, New York Film Critics Circle SCREENPLAY                                                                     Best Adaptation and Best First Film, Césars Awards (2008)  
Marjane Satrapi & Vincent Paronnaud

VOICES                                                                                RUNNING TIME: 95’
                        
Marjane: Chiara Mastroianni                                                 PRODUCTION: France, 2007    
Marjane's mother:
Catherine Deneuve
Marjane's grandmother:                                                       RATING: PG-13
Danielle Darieux
Marjane's father: Simon Abkarian
Young Marjane: Gabrielle Lopes