Those who weren’t able to catch the Oscar-nominated Persepolis in limited release over the winter will get another chance when Sony Pictures Classics releases the English-language version in 100 theaters nationwide on April 11. The acclaimed, black-and-white animated feature from directors Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud adds some American star power to its voice cast for the debut.
Persepolis is based on Satrapi’s internationally best-selling and award-winning graphic novel autobiography, which chronicles her coming of age in Iran during the Islamic revolution of the 1970s and ’80s. Chiara Mastroianni and her real-life mother, Catherine Deneuve, voiced Marjane and her mother in the French version and have reprised those roles in English. Joining the cast are Sean Penn as Marjane’s Father, Ebi, Gena Rowlands as the Grandmother, Iggy Pop as Uncle Anouche and Amethyste Frezignac as a very young Marjane. The English dub was recorded under the direction of Satrapi and Paronnaud as the French version of the film was being completed.
The film was nominated for the Best Animated Feature Academy Award, and was also France’s official entry for Best Foreign Film this year. It also shared the jury prize at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, screened to critical acclaim at the 2007 Telluride and Toronto Film Festivals, and closed the New York Film Festival.
Sony Pictures Classics released the French-language version in a handful of U.S. theaters on December 25.
Persepolis is produced by Marc-Antoine Robert and Xavier Rigault of 2.4.7. Films, and exec produced by Kathleen Kennedy of The Kennedy/Marshall Company in co-production with France 3 Cinema, Franche Connection Animations and Diaphana Distribution; in association with Celluloid Dreams, Sony Pictures Classics, Sofica Soficinema and Sofica Europacorp.
