Persepolis

When Marjane Satrapi was nominated for Animated Feature Film, with co-director Vincent Paronnaud, she became the first woman in the history of the Oscars to have garnered such a nod. Winner of the Cannes Jury Prize, Persepolis is based on Satrapi’s biographical graphic novel of the same name, which follows a precocious young girl in Tehran who comes of age during the country’s 1979 revolution and the Iran-Iraq war. Like the graphic novel, the film is in black-and-white and uses traditional animation techniques, achieving a striking palette that remains timeless.

DIRECTED/WRITTEN BY: Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Paronnaud. WITH: Chiara Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve, Danielle Darrieux, Simon Abkarian. 2007. 96 min. France. B&W. French. Rated PG-13. 35mm.