Persepolis Forced from Thai Fest
Iranian Embassy Pressured Bangkok Fest to Pull Marjane Satrapi Film
The Bangkok International Film Festival gives in to Iranian demands not to screen Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi's award-winning animated film.
(Source: www.bcdb.com)
The Bangkok International Film Festival announced on Tuesday that it would pull Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis from its schedule, after the Iranian embassy demanded its removal. A screening of the award-winning movie was to open the festivities.
“The (Iranian) ambassador has requested that we reconsider the screening of Persepolis, and since this could affect international relations, we have decided not to show the film,” said Chattan Kunjara Na Ayutthaya of the Tourism Authority of Thailand.
"I was invited by the Iranian embassy to discuss the matter, and we both came to mutual agreement that it would be beneficial to both countries if the film was not shown," Chattan, who is also the film festival's director, said Wednesday. "We have withdrawn Persepolis . . . on the request of the Iranian embassy. It's a good film, but there are other considerations."
This decision is expected to ignite a controversy, since the Bangkok Film Festival has committed acts of self-censorship in the past.
"That's something that has to be discussed at the end of the festival," Chattan replied.
Persepolis is the movie adaptation of Marjane Satrapi's award-winning graphic novel. The black-and-white animated flick was written and directed by Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud, and details her life in Iran during and after the 1979 Islamist revolution that overthrew Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi. It is distributed by Sony Pictures Classics.
Although Persepolis shows how conditions in Iran deteriorated after the Islamist revolution, the movie also criticizes the United States for propping up the Shah's repressive regime, and giving weapons to his government.
The Iranian embassy in Bangkok had complained about the film's inclusion in the schedule since they felt it painted a "negative image" of their country.
"We have many beautiful images that represent Iran, so we recommend the organizers present other films instead," an unidentified Iranian diplomat huffed at The Nation newspaper.
Iranian government officials threw a tantrum when Persepolis won the coveted Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival last May, accusing the film of attempting to "sabotage Iranian culture" and claimed it was part of a convoluted plot by the United States to undermine the theocratic government.
Even before Persepolis screened at Cannes, the government-connected group Iran Farabi Foundation had sent a letter complaining about the film.
"This year the Cannes Film Festival, in an unconventional and unsuitable act, has chosen a movie about Iran that has presented an unrealistic face of the achievements and results of the glorious Islamic Revolution in some of its parts," the letter read in part.
The Bangkok International Film Festival runs from July 19th to the 29th.
