2 hours ago

TEHRAN (AFP) — Iran this week held rare screenings to small but fascinated audiences of the Oscar-nominated film “Persepolis,” which has annoyed the authorities for its critical portrayal of the Islamic revolution.

Around 70 people crammed into a small hall in a Tehran cultural centre on Thursday to watch the animated film in a rare chance for Iranians to see the film legally and in public, AFP correspondents witnessed.

A similar screening of the film, which graphically shows its young heroine’s brushes with the authorities in the early days of the Islamic revolution in the 1980s, also took place at the Rasaneh Cultural Centre in Tehran on Tuesday.

“The aim of this screening is to end the delusions surrounding the film which have been created by the media,” said the centre’s public relations chief, Mahmoud Babareza.

“When a film is not shown people make all sorts of misconceptions. Cinema is cinema, after all, and it should not be put into a limited political context,” he told AFP.
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5j42rPk2BytF_nzJMitnhfe-sP4hw

interviews:
FR
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVNr_kwQRW8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_HQnN4u2vk
EN
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMwfzqEqVLk

She has a blog at NYTimes. (behind account)
http://satrapi.blogs.nytimes.com/

this entry however is must read. (give insight to her world politics. She needs to use computer already. She has no public email or web page. )
http://www.nytimes.com/images/section/opinion/20051128/marjane.frame.3.jpg

part of interview:
http://www.powells.com/authors/satrapi.html

Dave: In Persepolis 2, you talk about the Iranian government filling up citizens’ brains with worries about Is my veil in place? or Are my trousers long enough?? In the United States right now, we’re witnessing a political campaign where the actual issues are hardly discussed at all. Instead, we hear about decades-old military records and we’re handed toothless generalizations that entirely gloss over policy distinctions and their consequences. It’s the same distractions.

Satrapi: Absolutely. It’s brainwashing and distraction. The only difference is that we knew we were living under a dictatorship so we never believed in what they said. We knew that our leaders were dictators. Here, people believe that they live in a democracy, which is an illusion.

It’s manipulation. Last week, I read in the news that people who vote for the Democrats will make America insecure, and if there is an attack it will be the fault of the people who voted for the Democrat. Why isn’t a journalist writing, “Hey, Mr. Cheney, 9/11 happened when you were in the government. You were even aware that something could happen, and you were powerless to stop it. Why are you spitting on the Democrats? Why are you giving bad conscience to the people?”

What’s happening—and it has a lot to do with this chapter in the book —really has a lot to do with this notion of fear. It’s very like the time when McCarthy was around, creating a paranoia of these mad communists. People said, “Never will we let this happen again.” Well, it’s happening again. People are paranoid.

The real war is not between the West and the East. The real war is between intelligent and stupid people. There is much more in common between George Bush and the fanatics in my country than between me and the fanatics of my country. There is much more common ground between me and normal people here in America who don’t want that. As an Iranian, I feel much closer to an American who thinks like me than to the bearded guy of my country.

————

Note: she is clearly aware of the possibility of her work being used against Iran.

If anything, it showed the harsh realities of living in a war-zone. I might just have to go look… there was NOTHING pro-war in this movie.

p.s.: I really appreciated the pointing out that America had aided both Iraq and Iran in their struggles with one another. Showed our government to be what it truly is.

I’m actually surprised (because Satrapi brings this truth up) that the film made it to American movie houses.

let’s not let conservative war-supporters in on this, okay?

actually, if war supporters thought about this truth- well they may start to see our government what it truly is.

Finally got a chance to watch the movie this weekend. EXCELLENT. It’s about time we had media representation of what it meant to live through all of these changes.

Of course, I laughed and cried (for the most part), throughout the movie. I’ve been dying to see it since winter break, when I saw the trailer before watching “Control”.

Best movie I’ve seen in a very long time. Anyway, had to skip down after some trolliing comments: at practicum, need to be constructing therapeutic lesson plans (Yee-Hah!). Oh, and maybe reading for classes tonight, in between. All on “daytime” cold medicine, mind you.

Most political movement in totalitarian states are invisible. There is no names, no list, people, or organization that outsider can track. Otherwise everybody would be dead when one guy gets captured and tortured.

Iranian student movement is fairly secretive since they are fighting against state organs. This goes all the way back several cycle. Even the Islamic revolution started out as student movement in France. Their mass movement and lesson learned are then transfered to groups in southern lebanon and gaza. etc. So, in term of Iran, there are US and british intels, the Shah, Revolutionary Guards, Savak, etc The usual dark forces in young nation.

so it’s a little hard trying to name women politician actively engaging popular politics. Public in the west are not going to know. I am fairly certain the underground political life in Iran is very rich and complex considering what has happened and who is playing in each wave of upheaval.

There is Shirin Ebadi of course.

Um, you don’t think Iran has “hard politics”? And those two were political leaders, not cartoonists. Nevertheless, the Iranian gov has already protested the movie.

It reminded me of the opening to Hector Tobar’s “Translation Nation,” where he talks about growing up thinking of Che Guevara in the same way that other kids thought about Santa Claus.

I wish I had been that badass as a child.

————-

‘mkay. I’ve watched the movie. It’s a good movie. I like the dark moody texture and the music is great in some section. It is well drawn. I would vote for 3.5/5. Definitely recommend it.

About the story itself/comment above. I was wrong, concluding from the clip and review.

It turns out the movie itself is not at all a political movie in a sense that the protagonist has to make a choice to change a regime (political movie) or by telling a story. That’s what I was thinking. (from the review talking about revolution etc.) Iranian politics is a backdrop, a very bleak one that she has to deal with. But it is a typical modern life story. (the role of CIA and British are old story, just about anybody knows it. And it still goes on.)

Instead the movie is about self discovery. A triumphant one at it too. Her parents obviously has enough resource, well connected and able to send her to a HighSchool in France. She can travel in and out of Iran and not exactly on government blacklist or an active target. (student movement during a revolution.)

by the time she returned to Iran, the war was over and the revolution has to deal with massive lost of energy and was essentially bankrupt. She was able to get in a university. She stayed out of trouble in term of larger Iranian politics until she immigrated.

Strangely enough, her past story could happen in a lot of part of the world through out the 60-80’s. Pick any colonial country and one gets similar story. Tho’ obviously Iran is some of the later wave. France has huge Iranian expats, btw.

My hero in this genre (self discovery amid backdrop of revolution) is Marguerite Duras. (Lovers) And Ballard (empire of the sun).

Move another spot with harder politics, she could be Benazir Bhutto or Indira Gandhi and probably shot dead.

PS. Uhm, and yeah everybody was a commie back then. It’s the only tool available to fight colonialism. The Iranian revolution essentially is a socialist revolution with religious language. Think of it like “Liberation Theology” (the closest Christian counterpart, I would imagine)

Exact form of what emancipated man/woman according to the revolution isn’t unique. China in the 50’s for eg. (and of course current rightwing talk) Even feminism has it’s form.

well, obviously we have different idea what political movie is. I was thinking something different. From which my opinion is derived. But hey…whatever. I deserve being called stupid for that. Mental note: actually WATCH the movie first instead of reading review then comment.

PS. if I am that far left. I wouldn’t be here typing and actually breathing…. but hey…

————-

‘mkay. I’ve watched the movie. It’s a good movie. I like the dark moody texture and the music is great in some section. It is well drawn. I would vote for 3.5/5. Definitely recommend it.

About the story itself/comment above. I was wrong, concluding from the clip and review.

It turns out the movie itself is not at all a political movie in a sense that the protagonist has to make a choice to change a regime (political movie) or by telling a story. That’s what I was thinking. (from the review talking about revolution etc.) Iranian politics is a backdrop, a very bleak one that she has to deal with. But it is a typical modern life story. (the role of CIA and British are old story, just about anybody knows it. And it still goes on.)

Instead the movie is about self discovery. A triumphant one at it too. Her parents obviously has enough resource, well connected and able to send her to a HighSchool in France. She can travel in and out of Iran and not exactly on government blacklist or an active target. (student movement during a revolution.)

by the time she returned to Iran, the war was over and the revolution has to deal with massive lost of energy and was essentially bankrupt. She was able to get in a university. She stayed out of trouble in term of larger Iranian politics until she immigrated.

Strangely enough, her past story could happen in a lot of part of the world through out the 60-80’s. Pick any colonial country and one gets similar story. Tho’ obviously Iran is some of the later wave. France has huge Iranian expats, btw.

My hero in this genre (self discovery amid backdrop of revolution) is Marguerite Duras. (Lovers) And Ballard (empire of the sun).

Move another spot with harder politics, she could be Benazir Bhutto or Indira Gandhi and probably shot dead.

PS. Uhm, and yeah everybody was a commie back then. It’s the only tool available to fight colonialism. The Iranian revolution essentially is a socialist revolution with religious language. Think of it like “Liberation Theology” (the closest Christian counterpart, I would imagine)

Exact form of what emancipated man/woman according to the revolution isn’t unique. China in the 50’s for eg. (and of course current rightwing talk) Even feminism has it’s form.