Persepolis Shows in Ottawa
Film Festival Will Screen Marjane Satrapi's Controversial Bio-Pic
The Ottawa International Animation Festival confirmed that it will show Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis, an animated film about growing up in post-revolution Iran.
The Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF) confirmed that it will screen the controversial animated film Persepolis. In doing so, the OIAF displayed greater intestinal fortitude than the Bangkok International Film Festival, which decided not to screen the film after being pressured by the Iranian government.
Persepolis will be one of three feature-length films playing at the festival, alongside South Korea's AAchi & SSipak (Bum-Jin Joe, director) and a Norwegian/British co-production of Free Jimmy (Christopher Nielson, director), a crime caper featuring a drug-addicted elephant.
Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi wrote and directed Persepolis, which was based on Satrapi's autobiographical graphic novel of the same name. The four-volume series detailed her experiences growing up under the oppressive imposed by the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in Iran. That theocracy was imposed after Shi'ite Islamists overthrew Mohammed Rezah Shah Pahlavi's government in 1979.
Persepolis won the prestigious Jury Prize (shared with the Mexican live-action film Stellet Licht, directed by Carlos Reygadas) at the Cannes Film Festival last May.
The Iranian government immediately protested the win, claiming it was all part of a US-backed plot to destabilize the theocracy. Former Iranian foreign minister Dr. Ali Akbar Velayati claimed the black-and-white animated film was evidence that the United States was trying to "encourage forces opposed to the authorities in any way possible."
"Islamophobia in Western drama started in France, and producing and highlighting the anti-Iranian film Persepolis in Cannes falls in line with this Islamophobia," claimed Mehdi Kalhor, a cultural advisor to current Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, when he heard about the win.
The OIAF appears to be unrepentant about having such a controversial film on its roster.
"In past years, we've had a solid crop of films but often there are truthfully only a couple of real Grand Prix contenders," OIAF artistic director Chris Robinson told AWN.
"This year is unique in that there are as many as half a dozen films that could walk off with top honors. And, once again, traditional technologies continue to lead the way. In particular, this year's finalists feature some outstanding stop-motion works, including Canada's Madame Tutli-Putli and Paradise along with camera-less work like Stephanie Maxell's brilliant, All That Remains. Independent animators continue to show that hand-made, traditional animation is far from dead."
The OIAF will run from September 19th to the 23rd. It will feature screenings, workshops, networking events and the Animarket Trade and Recruiting Fair. The event claims an attendance of over 1,500 industry pass-holders and a total attendance of more than 23,000 people.
The 2007 international jury features Bruce Alcock (Canada), Ruth Lingford (U.K.), Joanna Quinn (U.K.), Tomasz Bagiski (Poland), Albert Hanan Kaminski (Belgium/Israel) and Hrvoje Turkovic (Croatia).
The Television Animation Conference is a side event to the OIAF and features industry focused panels, round tables, pitch sessions and pre-arranged meetings. TAC brings together key players from North American and international markets and provides an intimate space for networking, information exchange, and trade. The TAC runs all day Sept. 19th and 20th.
For a full list of films playing at the Ottawa International Animation Festival, click here.
