CANNES FILM FESTIVAL - CONTROVERSIAL ANIMATED FILM TO BE FRANCE'S OSCAR ENTRY

The award-winning animated film Persepolis, which tells the story of an Iranian girl growing up at the time of the Islamic revolution, has been selected as France's entry in the 2008 Oscars for best foreign-language film. The film took the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival this year and has been selected to close the New York Film Festival next month. Nevertheless, it has been denounced by Iranian officials, who demanded that it be yanked from the state-sponsored Bangkok International Film Festival, where it had been selected as the opening film. The decision of the BIFF to agree to the Iranian demands raised questions about the artistic integrity of film festivals that depend on government -- and hence, political -- funding.

18/09/2007