Marjane Satrapi, the brains and heart behind Persepolis, the animated film based on her autobiographical comics about growing up in the wake of the 1979 Iranian rvolution, talks to Nancy Ramsey about turning her life into art, and about not knowing just how her home nation's government might like to reward her for it. "First of all, I'm not revealing stuff that nobody knows, there have been hundreds of documentaries on this. I'm against all fanatics -- Muslim, Jewish, Christian, secular, Communist fanatics. This is about repression, the idea of, 'If you don't think like me, you are my enemy and so I have to kill you.' This idea doesn't belong to a special place." Satrapi had a personal trumph when the film was shown in a Paris suburb where "most of the population there are Muslim, and they're poor. A thousand people came, and they were applauding for one hour. They saw the humanity in the story, its personal point of view. They understood I'm not judging. I'm asking questions." The film, which was a French entry at Cannes last spring and is now the French submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, has been protested by the Iranian government, and Satrapi, who hasn't been home since 2000, has no plans of going back to act them what the problem is. "The problem is, there's no rule book. They don't tell you, 'No, you can't do this.' But they throw you in jail for doing it."
