Persepolis Will be Discussed at RIT March 26

The award-winning film Persepolis will be explored at Rochester Institute of Technology in a panel discussion featuring Democrat and Chronicle film critic Jack Garner and RIT associate professor of literature Babak Elahi. The free talk will take place from 12:30 to 3 p.m., Wednesday, March 26, in Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science auditorium

Persepolis, based on the graphic novel by Iranian émigré Marjane Satrapi, has won a number of prestigious film awards, including the Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize, and was nominated for an Academy Award in the animated feature category. The film uses simple and powerful animation to tell the story of a young woman’s coming of age during the Iranian Revolution and the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s as she shuttles back and forth between Europe and Tehran.

Garner and Elahi will discuss the film and its historical, political, and artistic importance. Elahi will discuss Iranian history in the 20th century as it relates to the film and the graphic novel upon which it was based. He will also discuss the politics of representing the lives of Iranian men and women through popular media. Garner will discuss the film’s aesthetic and narrative qualities and situate it within contemporary cinema. The Department of English in RIT’s College of Liberal Arts will host the event.

Garner currently teaches Contemporary Film at RIT. He has worked as a film critic for the Democrat and Chronicle for 30 years, and has also reviewed films for WHAM-13 and WRMM-FM.

Elahi earned his doctorate from the University of Rochester in the area of American literature. He has taught literature, writing and film at RIT since 1999. He also writes and teaches about Iranian literature and film, and Iranian-American memoir. Elahi’s essays have appeared in College Literature, Arizona Quarterly and Iranian Studies.

For more details about this event, contact Babak Elahi at (585) 475-5235 or bxegsl@rit.edu.