Marjane Satrapi
Encyclopedia
Marjane Satrapi (born 22 November 1969 in Rasht
, Iran
) is an Iran
ian-born French
contemporary graphic novel
ist, illustrator, animated
film director
, and children's book
author. Apart from her native language Persian
, she speaks English
, Swedish
, German
, French
and Italian
.
in a family which was involved with communist
and socialist movements in Iran prior to the Iranian Revolution
. She attended the Lycée Français there and witnessed, as a child, the growing suppression of civil liberties and the everyday-life consequences of Iranian politics, including the fall of the Shah
, the early regime of Ruhollah Khomeini
, and the first years of the Iran–Iraq War. She experienced an Iraqi air raid and Scud
missile attacks on Tehran. According to Persepolis, one Scud hit the house next to hers, killing her friend.
Satrapi's family are of distant Iranian Azeri ancestry and are descendants of Nasser al-Din Shah
, Shah of Persia
from 1848 until 1896. Satrapi said that "But you have to know the kings of the Qajar dynasty, they had hundreds of wives. They made thousands of kids. If you multiply these kids by generation you have, I don't know, 10-15,000 princes [and princesses]. There's nothing extremely special about that." She added that due to this detail, most Iranian families would be, in the words of Simon Hattenstone of The Guardian
, "blue blooded."
In 1983, at the age of fourteen, Satrapi was sent to Vienna
, Austria
by her parents in order to flee the Iranian regime. There she attended the Lycée Français de Vienne
. According to her autobiographical graphic novel, Persepolis, she stayed in Vienna through her high school years, staying in friends' homes, but spent two months living on the streets. After an almost deadly bout of pneumonia, she returned to Iran. She studied visual communication, eventually obtaining a master's degree
from Islamic Azad University
in Tehran.
During this time, Satrapi went to numerous illegal parties hosted by her friends, where she met a man named Reza, a veteran of the Iran-Iraq War
. She married him at the age of 21, but divorced him roughly three years later. Satrapi then moved to Strasbourg
, France
.
Satrapi is married to Mattias Ripa, a Swedish national. They have no children, and they live in Paris
.
, a French comics
artist who became her mentor and teacher. Satrapi became famous worldwide because of her critically acclaimed autobiographical graphic novels, originally published in French in four parts in 2000–2003 and in English translation in two parts in 2003 and 2004, respectively, as Persepolis and Persepolis 2, which describe her childhood in Iran and her adolescence in Europe
. Persepolis won the Angoulême Coup de Coeur Award
at the Angoulême International Comics Festival
. Her later publication, Embroideries (Broderies) was also nominated for the Angoulême Album of the Year award in 2003, an award which was won by her most recent novel, Chicken with Plums (Poulet aux prunes). She has also contributed to the Op-Ed
section of The New York Times
.
Persepolis was adapted into an animated film
of the same name
which debuted at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival
in May 2007 and shared a Special Jury Prize with Silent Light
(Luz silenciosa) by Carlos Reygadas. Co-written and co-directed by Satrapi and director Vincent Paronnaud
, the French-language picture stars the voices of Chiara Mastroianni
, Catherine Deneuve
, Danielle Darrieux
, and Simon Abkarian
. The English version, starring the voices of Gena Rowlands
, Sean Penn
, and Iggy Pop
, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature
in January 2008.
Persepolis was a very successful film both commercially (with over a million admissions in France alone) as well as critically, winning the Best First Film at the 2008 French César awards (the French equivalent of the Oscars). As such the film reflects many tendencies of first-time filmmaking in France (which makes up around 40% of all French cinema each year), notably in its focus on very intimate rites-of-passage, and quite ambivalently recounted coming-of-age moments.
Satrapi and Paronnaud continued their successful collaboration with a second film, a live-action adaptation of Chicken with Plums
, released in late 2011.
appeared before Green Party members in the European Parliament to present a document allegedly received from a member of the Iranian electoral commission claiming that the reform candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi had actually won the election, and that the conservative incumbent Mahmoud Ahmedinejad had received only 12% of the vote.
Rasht
Rasht is a city in and the capital of Gilan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 551,161, in 159,983 families.Rasht is the largest city on Iran's Caspian Sea coast. It is a major trade center between Caucasia, Russia and Iran using the port of Bandar-e Anzali...
, Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
) is an Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
ian-born French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
contemporary graphic novel
Graphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
ist, illustrator, animated
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
, and children's book
Children's literature
Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...
author. Apart from her native language Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
, she speaks English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, Swedish
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
.
Biography
Satrapi grew up in TehranTehran
Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...
in a family which was involved with communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
and socialist movements in Iran prior to the Iranian Revolution
Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the...
. She attended the Lycée Français there and witnessed, as a child, the growing suppression of civil liberties and the everyday-life consequences of Iranian politics, including the fall of the Shah
Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the...
, the early regime of Ruhollah Khomeini
Ruhollah Khomeini
Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini was an Iranian religious leader and politician, and leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution which saw the overthrow of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran...
, and the first years of the Iran–Iraq War. She experienced an Iraqi air raid and Scud
Scud
Scud is a series of tactical ballistic missiles developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War, and exported widely to other countries. The term comes from the NATO reporting name SS-1 Scud which was attached to the missile by Western intelligence agencies...
missile attacks on Tehran. According to Persepolis, one Scud hit the house next to hers, killing her friend.
Satrapi's family are of distant Iranian Azeri ancestry and are descendants of Nasser al-Din Shah
Nasser al-Din Shah
Nasser al-Din Shah Qajar was the King of Iran from September 17, 1848 to May 1, 1896 when he was assassinated. He was the son of Mohammad Shah Qajar and Malek Jahan Khanom, Mahd-e Olia and the third longest reigning monarch king in Iranian history after Shapur II of the Sassanid Dynasty and...
, Shah of Persia
Qajar dynasty
The Qajar dynasty was an Iranian royal family of Turkic descent who ruled Persia from 1785 to 1925....
from 1848 until 1896. Satrapi said that "But you have to know the kings of the Qajar dynasty, they had hundreds of wives. They made thousands of kids. If you multiply these kids by generation you have, I don't know, 10-15,000 princes [and princesses]. There's nothing extremely special about that." She added that due to this detail, most Iranian families would be, in the words of Simon Hattenstone of The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, "blue blooded."
In 1983, at the age of fourteen, Satrapi was sent to Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
by her parents in order to flee the Iranian regime. There she attended the Lycée Français de Vienne
Lycée Français de Vienne
Lycée Français de Vienne is a French curriculum secondary school in Alsergrund, Vienna.The Lycée Français de Vienne is one of the world's largest schools accredited by the Agency for French Teaching Abroad and has more than 2000 students.The private school shares its boarding school with...
. According to her autobiographical graphic novel, Persepolis, she stayed in Vienna through her high school years, staying in friends' homes, but spent two months living on the streets. After an almost deadly bout of pneumonia, she returned to Iran. She studied visual communication, eventually obtaining a master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
from Islamic Azad University
Islamic Azad University
Islamic Azad University is a private chain of universities in Iran.Headquartered in Tehran, Iran, the Islamic Azad University was founded in 1982 and currently has an enrollment of 1.5 million students, making it the world's third largest...
in Tehran.
During this time, Satrapi went to numerous illegal parties hosted by her friends, where she met a man named Reza, a veteran of the Iran-Iraq War
Iran-Iraq War
The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between the armed forces of Iraq and Iran, lasting from September 1980 to August 1988, making it the longest conventional war of the twentieth century...
. She married him at the age of 21, but divorced him roughly three years later. Satrapi then moved to Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
Satrapi is married to Mattias Ripa, a Swedish national. They have no children, and they live in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
.
Graphic novels
Satrapi's career began in earnest when she met David BeauchardDavid Beauchard
Pierre-François "David" Beauchard , who uses the pen name David B., is a French comic book artist and writer, and one of the founders of L'Association.-Biography:...
, a French comics
Comics
Comics denotes a hybrid medium having verbal side of its vocabulary tightly tied to its visual side in order to convey narrative or information only, the latter in case of non-fiction comics, seeking synergy by using both visual and verbal side in...
artist who became her mentor and teacher. Satrapi became famous worldwide because of her critically acclaimed autobiographical graphic novels, originally published in French in four parts in 2000–2003 and in English translation in two parts in 2003 and 2004, respectively, as Persepolis and Persepolis 2, which describe her childhood in Iran and her adolescence in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. Persepolis won the Angoulême Coup de Coeur Award
Angoulême International Comics Festival Prize for First Comic Book
This Prize for First Comic Book is awarded to comics authors at the Angoulême International Comics Festival between 1985 and 1988, when it was replaced by the Coup de Coeur, an award for the best comic book by authors with at most three publications...
at the Angoulême International Comics Festival
Angoulême International Comics Festival
The Angoulême International Comics Festival is the largest comics festival in Europe. It has occurred every year since 1974 in Angoulême, France, in the month of January.The four-day festival is notable for awarding several prestigious prizes in cartooning...
. Her later publication, Embroideries (Broderies) was also nominated for the Angoulême Album of the Year award in 2003, an award which was won by her most recent novel, Chicken with Plums (Poulet aux prunes). She has also contributed to the Op-Ed
Op-ed
An op-ed, abbreviated from opposite the editorial page , is a newspaper article that expresses the opinions of a named writer who is usually unaffiliated with the newspaper's editorial board...
section of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
.
Films
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
of the same name
Persepolis (film)
Persepolis is a 2007 French animated film based on Marjane Satrapi's autobiographical graphic novel of the same name. The film was written and directed by Satrapi with Vincent Paronnaud. The story follows a young girl as she comes of age against the backdrop of the Iranian Revolution. The story...
which debuted at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival
2007 Cannes Film Festival
The 2007 Cannes Film Festival, the sixtieth, ran from 16 to 27 May 2007. Wong Kar-wai's My Blueberry Nights opened the festival, and Denys Arcand's The Age of Ignorance closed...
in May 2007 and shared a Special Jury Prize with Silent Light
Silent Light
- External links :* * at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival* - External links :* * at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival* - External links :* * at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival*...
(Luz silenciosa) by Carlos Reygadas. Co-written and co-directed by Satrapi and director Vincent Paronnaud
Vincent Paronnaud
Pascal Stadler , a.k.a. Winshluss, is a French comics artist and filmmaker. He is best known for cowriting and codirecting with Marjane Satrapi the highly acclaimed animated film Persepolis , for which they received numerous awards including the Jury Prize at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival as well...
, the French-language picture stars the voices of Chiara Mastroianni
Chiara Mastroianni
Chiara Charlotte Mastroianni is a French actress and singer.-Biography:Mastroianni was born in Paris, the daughter of Catherine Deneuve and Marcello Mastroianni. Her elder half-brother is Christian Vadim; her elder half-sister is Barbara Mastroianni.She had relationships with the actors Benicio...
, Catherine Deneuve
Catherine Deneuve
Catherine Deneuve is a French actress. She gained recognition for her portrayal of aloof and mysterious beauties in films such as Repulsion and Belle de jour . Deneuve was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1993 for her performance in Indochine; she also won César Awards for that...
, Danielle Darrieux
Danielle Darrieux
Danielle Yvonne Marie Antoinette Darrieux is a French actress and singer, who has appeared in more than 110 films since 1931. She is one of France's great movie stars and her eight-decade career is among the longest in film history....
, and Simon Abkarian
Simon Abkarian
Simon Abkarian is a French-Armenian actor.Born in Gonesse, Val d'Oise, of Armenian descent, Abkarian spent his childhood in Lebanon. He moved to Los Angeles, where he joined an Armenian theater company managed by Gerald Papazian. He returned to France in 1985, settling in Paris...
. The English version, starring the voices of Gena Rowlands
Gena Rowlands
Gena Rowlands is an American actress of film, stage and television. The four-time Emmy and two-time Golden Globe winner is best known for her collaborations with her actor-director husband John Cassavetes in ten films, in two of which, Gloria and A Woman Under the Influence, she gave Academy...
, Sean Penn
Sean Penn
Sean Justin Penn is an American actor, screenwriter and film director, also known for his political and social activism...
, and Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Though considered an innovator of punk rock, Pop's music has encompassed a number of styles over the years, including pop, metal, jazz and blues...
, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature
Academy Award for Best Animated Feature
The Academy Award for Best Animated Feature is one of the annual awards given by the Los Angeles-based professional organization, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
in January 2008.
Persepolis was a very successful film both commercially (with over a million admissions in France alone) as well as critically, winning the Best First Film at the 2008 French César awards (the French equivalent of the Oscars). As such the film reflects many tendencies of first-time filmmaking in France (which makes up around 40% of all French cinema each year), notably in its focus on very intimate rites-of-passage, and quite ambivalently recounted coming-of-age moments.
Satrapi and Paronnaud continued their successful collaboration with a second film, a live-action adaptation of Chicken with Plums
Chicken with Plums (film)
Chicken with Plums is a 2011 French drama film directed by Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud. It is based on the graphic novel of the same name. The film premiered in competition at the 68th Venice International Film Festival on 3 September 2011...
, released in late 2011.
Public appearances
Following the Iranian elections in June 2009, Marjane Satrapi and Iranian filmmaker Mohsen MakhmalbafMohsen Makhmalbaf
Mohsen Makhmalbaf is an Iranian film director, writer, editor, and producer. During 2007 he was the president of Asian Film Academy.Makhmalbaf's films have been widely presented in international film festivals in the past ten years. The multi-award-winning director, belongs to the new wave...
appeared before Green Party members in the European Parliament to present a document allegedly received from a member of the Iranian electoral commission claiming that the reform candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi had actually won the election, and that the conservative incumbent Mahmoud Ahmedinejad had received only 12% of the vote.
Works
French
- Sagesses et malices de la Perse (2001, with Lila Ibrahim-Ouali and Bahman Namwar-Motalg, Albin Michel, ISBN 2-22611-872-1)
- Les monstres n'aiment pas la lune (2001, Nathan Jeunesse, ISBN 2-0928-2094-X)
- Ulysse au pays des fous (2001, with Jean-Pierre Duffour, Nathan Jeunesse, ISBN 2-0921-0847-6)
- Adjar (2002, Nathan Jeunesse, ISBN 2-0921-1033-0)
- Broderies (2003, L'Association, ISBN 2-84414-095-5)
- Le Soupir (2004, Bréal Jeunesse, ISBN 2-7495-0325-6)
English
- Embroideries (2005, Pantheon ISBN 978-0-375-42305-5)
- Monsters Are Afraid of the Moon (2006, Bloomsbury, ISBN 1-5823-4744-1)
Awards
- 2001: Angoulême Coup de Coeur AwardAngoulême International Comics Festival Prize for First Comic BookThis Prize for First Comic Book is awarded to comics authors at the Angoulême International Comics Festival between 1985 and 1988, when it was replaced by the Coup de Coeur, an award for the best comic book by authors with at most three publications...
for Persepolis - 2002: Angoulême Prize for ScenarioAngoulême International Comics Festival Prize for ScenarioThis Prize for Scenario is awarded to comics authors at the Angoulême International Comics Festival.As is the customary practice in Wikipedia for listing awards such as Oscar results, the winner of the award for that year is listed first, the others listed below are the nominees.-1990s:* 1993:...
for Persepolis: Tome 2 - 2005: Angoulême Best Comic Book AwardAngoulême International Comics Festival Prize for Best Comic BookThe Prize for Best Album , also known as the Golden Wildcat , is awarded to comics authors at the Angoulême International Comics Festival....
for Poulet aux prunes - 2007: Jury Prize for Persepolis (tied with Silent LightSilent Light- External links :* * at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival* - External links :* * at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival* - External links :* * at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival*...
), Cannes Film Festival - 2007: Best Animation: Los Angeles Film Critics AssociationLos Angeles Film Critics AssociationThe Los Angeles Film Critics Association was founded in 1975. Its main purpose is to present yearly awards to members of the film industry who have excelled in their fields. These awards are presented each January...
- 2008: Cinema for PeaceCinema for PeaceThe Cinema for Peace initiative aims to raise awareness for the social relevance of films and to make active use of the influence of movies and documentaries on the perception and resolution of global social, political and humanitarian challenges of our time...
Award for "Most Valuable Movie of the Year" - 2008: Gat PerichGat PerichGat Perich International Humor Prize, is an international award to cartoonists or humorists given in the memory of Spanish cartoonist Jaume Perich ....
Award - 2009: Doctor honoris causa both at the Katholieke Universiteit LeuvenKatholieke Universiteit LeuvenThe Katholieke Universiteit Leuven is a Dutch-speaking university in Flanders, Belgium.It is located at the centre of the historic town of Leuven, and is a prominent part of the city, home to the university since 1425...
and the Université catholique de LouvainUniversité catholique de LouvainThe Université catholique de Louvain, sometimes known, especially in Belgium, as UCL, is Belgium's largest French-speaking university. It is located in Louvain-la-Neuve and in Brussels...
from BelgiumBelgiumBelgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
External links
- Persepolis film (2008) official website, Sony Picture Classics
- Marjane Satrapi, author at Random House
- Marjane Satrapi biography on Lambiek Comiclopedia
- Persepolis: A State of Mind, reflections by Marjane Satrapi (2007)
- "Princess of Darkness", interview by Robert Chalmers, The Independent (1 October 2006)
- Marjane Satrapi interview at Bookslut (2004)
- Marjane Satrapi interview at Powells.com (2006)
- Marjane Satrapi interview at Reviewgraveyard.com
- Marjane Satrapi interview at Newsarama
- Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud interview at IFC News
- "Bringing Iran To The West: Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis" at The Culturatti