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Marjane Satrapi, Princess of Asturias Award winner, dies at 56

6/4/2026

Summary

Satrapi Dies

The Princess of Asturias Foundation announced Thursday that Franco-Iranian screenwriter and filmmaker Marjane Satrapi died at age 56.
The foundation posted the news on social media minutes after Satrapi’s family informed French channel BFM TV.
Satrapi had received the Princess of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities in 2024.
Her husband, Swedish producer Mattias Ripa, who translated Persepolis into English, died just over a year earlier.

Summary

Satrapi Refuses Honor

Marjane Satrapi refused the French Legion d'Honneur, denouncing France's visa policies that hinder Iranian dissidents.
She co-designed a tapestry for the Paris 2024 Olympics, unveiled March 12, and founded a cinema foundation to aid film students.
Her 2007 film Persepolis, with Vincent Paronnaud, won Cannes' Jury Prize and earned an Oscar nomination.
After Mahsa Amini's 2022 death, Satrapi protested in Paris, chanting “Women, Life, Freedom” and demanding regime's end.

Summary

Satrapi Stages Protest

She organized a 2023 flash mob at Paris’s Iranian embassy to protest arrest of five Tehran teens.
Her French lycée education in Tehran and exile to France positioned her as a conduit for Iranian narratives.
She won Cannes’ Jury Prize and an Oscar nomination for the 2007 animated Persepolis, then directed the 2019 biopic Radioactive and released Dear Paris, a film about Parisians confronting mortality, underscoring her French storytelling devotion.

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Satrapi Dies

The Princess of Asturias Foundation announced Thursday that Franco-Iranian screenwriter and filmmaker Marjane Satrapi died at age 56.
The foundation posted the news on social media minutes after Satrapi’s family informed French channel BFM TV.
Satrapi had received the Princess of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities in 2024.
Her husband, Swedish producer Mattias Ripa, who translated Persepolis into English, died just over a year earlier.

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