Event

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. 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. 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.