Persepolis (film)
Artist: Marjane Satrapi
Year: 2012
Date of Action: May 2012
Region: Africa
Location: Tunisia
Subject: Political/Economic/Social Opinion, Religion
Medium: Film/Video "Film/Video" is not in the list (Commercial Advertising, Dance, Design, Installation, Journalism, Literature, Mixed Media, Music, Online, Painting, ...) of allowed values for the "Has medium" property., Television
Confronting Bodies: Tunisian Government
Description of Artwork: "Persepolis" is a 2007 French/American animated film based on Marjane Satrapi's autobiographical graphic novel of the same name. Written and directed by Satrapi with Vincent Paronnaud, the film follows a young girl as she comes of age against the backdrop of the Iranian Revolution. The story ends with Marjane as a 24-year-old expatriate. The title is a reference to the historic city of Persepolis.
The Incident: On October 7, 2011, the privately owned Nessma television station broadcast “Persepolis,” an animated feature film about a girl’s childhood in Iran. The broadcast led to protests and a trial against the station's owner, Nabil Karoui, in Tunisia because it contained a scene depicting Allah, which some consider to be forbidden by Islam.
Results of Incident: Karoui was fined 2,400 dinars (about $1,700) on May 3, 2012 for airing the film. The ruling, which condemned Karoui for "broadcasting a film that disturbs public order and threatens proper morals," followed a long legal battle in a case widely seen as a landmark test of freedom of expression in the country that triggered the Arab Spring. The defence said it plans to appeal against the verdict.
Source:
• http://www.france24.com/en/20120503-tunisian-tv-chief-fined-screening-persepolis-karoui-franco-iranian-film-revolution-nessma http://www.huffingtonpost.com/human-rights-watch/tunisia-persepolis-trial_b_1230790.html
The airing of the film prompted attacks on the station's offices and Karoui's home by protesting activists linked to Salafism, a conservative strand of Islam.