This year we saw giant strides made by women filmmakers at the Oscars. It was good to see women finally telling their stories and getting acclaim for it.
Persepolis, adapted and directed by Marjane Satrapi (and Vincent Paronnaud) from her graphic novel was nominated for Best Animated Feature. Marjane removes the veil so we can really get to know the precocious Iranian girl living during the Iranian revolution. Through this poignant and often hilarious film, writer/co-director Marjane Satrapi hopes to create understanding of what the Iranian people have undergone.
“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.”
We watched as women accepted Oscars for:
Best Documentary Short Subject "Freeheld" - Cynthia Wade and Vanessa Roth
Best Animated Short Film "Peter & the Wolf" - Suzie Templeton (and Hugh Welchman)
For the first time in Oscar history, four women were nominated in the screenwriting categories: Nancy Oliver was nominated for her highly original feel good comedy, Lars and the Real Girl. Congratulations to Diablo Cody (pictured above) for winning Best Original Screenplay for her quotable dialogue and for her honest portrayal of a teenage girl (which also garnered Ellen Page a Best Actress nomination) in Juno. Two of these nominated writers also realized their vision as director. They created fully drawn, truthful characters that paid off in nominations for their leading ladies. Young writer/director Sarah Polley was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay for Away from Her while her lead actress, Julie Christie, was nominated for best actress. Writer/Director Tamara Jenkins was nominated for the bitingly real screenplay, The Savages. Her lead actress Laura Linney was nominated for Best Actress.
Congratulations to all these talented filmmakers! I hope that these powerful women inspire and empower a new generation of women filmmakers to express their stories on film.
Thanks,
Jana Segal
http://reelinspiration.blogspot.com/
LUNAFEST 2008
Tuesday, March 4th at 7:00 p.m.
Presented by The University of Arizona's Women's Studies Department
LUNAFEST 2008 lands at The Loft!
Get ready for an entertaining and enlightening evening of short films made by, for, and about women. This annual, nationally-touring film festival brings the best short films from around the world (all made by women) together for one special night of cinematic excitement.
This year's films, which have won industry awards and film festival audience accolades, run the gamut from quirky animation to touching documentaries, and explore such topics as social and cultural diversity, the joys and challenges of mother and child relationships, and the bending (and sometimes breaking) of traditional gender roles. Incredibly diverse in both style and subject matter, these gems are united by a common thread of exceptional storytelling by…for…about women.
Visit the LUNAFEST website: http://lunafest.org/
I recently saw the powerful, Oscar nominated animated feature, "Persepolis" (98 minutes) at the Loft Theater in Tucson. Persepolis is definitely a love project. Marjane Satrapi, along with co-director Vincent Paronnaud, adapted her graphic novels based on her life story. "Persepolis," was painstakingly drawn the old fashion way with pencil and ink to create more expression in the characters. It is done in (mostly) black and white, two-dimensional animation. But there is nothing black and white or two-dimensional about this story of an Iranian girl growing up during the Islamic Revolution.
The movie begins with the fall of the Shah. Often, when we think of that regime, we think of the tyranny of the Shah and all the people he executed. But at this time, Iran was also very modern and westernized. Many Iranians enjoyed some degree of personal freedom. Eventually that freedom is completely taken away by the religious extremists. We experience this world through the eyes of the precocious Marjane - a well drawn character with her own weaknesses and childish perspectives. Along with Marjane, we get a history lesson about Iran and the Islamic Revolution from her father and uncle. Imaginative (and sometimes humorous) visuals add context to their narration. Young Marjane learns some hard lessons as the uncle she idealizes is imprisoned for fighting for freedom. Teenage Marjane must cover her hair and hide her love of Punk from the "social guardians". When she speaks out, her parents fear for her life and send her away to school in Austria. In this strange new country, she must deal with the challenges of becoming an adult, culture shock, and prejudice. Marjane becomes homesick for an Iran that is no long there.
Through this poignant and often hilarious film, writer/co-director Marjane Satrapi hopes to create understanding of what the Iranian people have undergone (see her statement below) and ensure that those who fought and died for freedom are not forgotten.
OSCAR UPDATE: Persepolis, written and directed by Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud. was nominated for Best Animated Feature.
Movie Blessings,
Jana Segal
http://reelinspiration.blogspot.com/Background from official website:
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.
The title PERSEPOLIS comes from the Persian capital founded in the 6th century BC by Darius I, later destroyed by Alexander the Great. It’s a reminder that there’s an old and grand civilization, besieged by waves of invaders but carrying on through milennia, that is much deeper and more complex than the current-day view of Iran as a monoculture of fundamentalism, fanaticism, and terrorism.
“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.”
