CHIARA MASTROIANNI, CATHERINE DENEUVE, DANIELLE DARRIEUX,

SIMON ABKARIAN & GABRIELLE LOPES

WITH THE VOICES OF

Chiara MASTROIANNI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Marjane (as a teenager and adult)

Catherine DENEUVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Marjane's mother, Tadji

Danielle DARRIEUX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . .Marjane's grandmother

Simon ABKARIAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Marjane's father, Ebi

Gabrielle LOPES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .young Marjane

François JEROSME . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Uncle Anouche

WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY . . .  Marjane SATRAPI and Vincent PARONNAUD

BASED ON THE ORIGINAL GRAPHIC NOVELS BY . . . . . . . .Marjane SATRAPI

PRODUCED BY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Marc-Antoine ROBERT and Xavier RIGAULT

ASSOCIATE PRODUCER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Kathleen KENNEDY

ORIGINAL MUSIC . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Olivier BERNET

ART DIRECTOR . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Marc JOUSSET

EDITOR/COMPOSITOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . .Stéphane ROCHE

ANIMATION COORDINATOR . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . .Christian DESMARES

1ST ASSISTANT DIRECTOR . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . Denis WALGENWITZ

PRODUCTION DESIGNER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Marisa MUSY

TRACE . . .Franck MIYET

ANIMATION ASSISTANT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Thierry PERES

LAYOUT ARTIST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jing WANG

ANIMATION PRODUCTION MANAGER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  Olivier BIZET

SOUND . . .Thierry LEBON

ANIMATION STUDIO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . .PERSEPROD

Read more about the film and see the trailer at:

http://www.sonyclassics.com/persepolis/

Persepolis is the poignant story of a young girl in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. It is through the eyes of precocious and outspoken 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 senselessly executed and as bombs fall around Tehran in the Iran/Iraq war, the daily fear that permeates life in Iran is palpable.

As she gets older, Marjane's boldness causes her parents to worry over her continued safety. And so, at age fourteen, they make the difficult decision to send her to school in Austria. Vulnerable and alone in a strange land, she endures the typical ordeals of a teenager. In addition, Marjane has to combat being equated with the religious fundamentalism and extremism she fled her country to escape. Over time, she gains acceptance, and even experiences love, but after high school she finds herself alone and horribly homesick.

Though it means putting on the veil and living in a tyrannical society, Marjane decides to return to Iran to be close to her family. After a difficult period of adjustment, she enters art school and marries, all the while continuing to speak out against the hypocrisy she witnesses. At age 24, she realizes that while she is deeply Iranian, she cannot live in Iran. She then makes the heartbreaking decision to leave her homeland for France, optimistic about her future, shaped indelibly by her past.

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Marjane Satrapi's graphic novels Persepolis: the Story of a Childhood (Pantheon, 2003, English version) and Persepolis 2: the Story of a Return (Pantheon, 2004, English version) won widespread acclaim in France, now her home, and around the world. Now, she has co-directed, with Vincent Paronnaud, the animated film version of her memoir.

"I believe that an entire nation should not be judged by the wrongdoings of a few extremists," Satrapi says. "I also don't want those Iranians who lost their lives in prisons defending freedom, who died in the war against Iraq, who suffered under various repressive regimes, or who were forced to leave their families and flee their homeland to be forgotten."