On Thursday 8 May, we’ll be screening Persepolis, the acclaimed film adaptation of Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel about the coming-of-age of a young Iranian girl growing up in a loving, cosmopolitan family in Tehran. The screening will be introduced by cultural organiser Farbod Nael, an Iranian MA student in Arts and Heritage at Maastricht University. His research focuses on the influence of secularism and minority rights within the Iranian diaspora, with particular attention to feminist organising and the role of art in community building. Farbod chairs the Middle Eastern Student Association UM Daftar, where he uses creative strategies to foster solidarity and challenge structural inequality, and is also a core organiser of Pride Maastricht.

This light and often funny film about the growing pains of an Iranian adolescent was awarded the Jury Prize at Cannes, won the KPN Audience Award in Rotterdam and was nominated for an Oscar in the best animated film category. In the autobiographical Persepolis, Satrapi recounts her childhood in Tehran. The fall of the shah is met with great excitement in the Satrapi family. However, the Islamic revolution does not bring freedom and prosperity, but only a new (and even worse) dictatorship. Marjane’s parents take their rebellious daughter to safety at a boarding school in Austria. Here, fourteen-year-old Marjane is introduced to the West, punk music and love. The gorgeous, hand-drawn animations lean closely to the childlike style of Satrapi’s comics, which we can also heartily recommend. (mv)