Marjane Satrapi, the Iranian-French cartoonist and filmmaker best known for her autobiographical graphic novel and film Persepolis, died at the age of 56. The French presidency confirmed her death Thursday.
"Her passing marks the loss of a leading figure of French culture and an artist devoted to freedom, whose work carried a universal message and earned her immense international acclaim," the French presidency said in a statement.
President Emmanuel Macron and his wife paid tribute, saying they honored "a remarkable artist who transformed an Iranian childhood into a universal fable," according to the statement.
French news broadcaster BFM TV and other French media reported that Satrapi died of sadness a little over a year after the death of her husband, Swedish film producer and actor Mattias Ripa, according to a statement from people close to the artist, ABC News reported.
Satrapi was born on November 22, 1969, in Rasht, Iran. Her parents sent her to Vienna, Austria, in 1983 to complete her studies because of the extremism that followed the 1979 Revolution that brought Ayatollah Khomeini to power. She found Austria hostile and missed her parents, eventually returning to Iran in 1989 to attend Tehran University, where she earned a degree in visual communications. In 1994 she moved to France, studying in Strasbourg before settling in Paris.
Persepolis, a coming-of-age story set against the Islamic Revolution in Iran, won the Film Critics Grand Prix at the Cannes Festival in 2007 and the César Award for Best Adapted Screenplay in 2008. It was also nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 2008 Oscars.
In a 2007 interview at Cannes with The Associated Press, Satrapi spoke about the film's central message. "What we wanted to say is, if these people scare you, look closer: They have parents, they have lovers, they have hope, they have stories," she said. Iranian authorities at the time protested the film's inclusion at Cannes by sending a letter to the French Embassy in Tehran.
The French Academy of Fine Arts, of which she was a member, expressed its deep sadness Thursday, paying tribute to her as a passionate advocate for cinema and film education. Earlier this year, she had created a foundation to help international students come to Paris to study film.
Her other graphic novels included Broderies and Poulet aux prunes, the latter of which was also adapted into a film.
