French-Iranian author and filmmaker Marjane Satrapi has died aged 56, a member of her close circle told AFP on Thursday.
The statement said Satrapi died “of sadness” a little over a year after the death of her husband, Swedish producer Mattias Ripa.
Satrapi was best known for “Persepolis,” her autobiographical graphic novel about growing up in Tehran after Iran’s 1979 revolution. Born in Rasht, Iran, in 1969, Satrapi moved to France in 1994. She became a French citizen in 2006.
French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to Satrapi. He called her a great artist who turned her Iranian childhood into a universal story.
Satrapi co-directed the 2007 animated film version of “Persepolis” with Vincent Paronnaud. The film won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and earned an Oscar nomination.
Cannes Film Festival chief Thierry Fremaux told AFP that Satrapi embodied the joy of creation and the pain of exile.
Satrapi also supported Iran’s “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement after the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini in custody.
Read: Dreams Of Violets Director Defends AI Film At Tribeca
The Narges Mohammadi Foundation praised Satrapi as a fearless voice for feminism, human rights and freedom.
Satrapi’s later work included “Woman, Life, Freedom,” a collection of graphic stories published in English in 2024.
She also directed “Radioactive,” the 2019 biopic about Nobel Prize-winning scientist Marie Curie, starring Rosamund Pike.
Satrapi founded the Mattias and Marjane Ripa-Satrapi Cinema Foundation after her husband’s death. The foundation supports foreign students who want to study filmmaking in Paris.
