Iranian embassy irate over Wgtn festival film

The Iranian embassy has attacked the Wellington Film Festival for its decision to include an animated feature, Persepolis, which is critical of Iran's regime.

The embassy said the film, which screens from Friday, was "full of lies and unreal fantasy", exploitative and unfair. The film was also "anti-peace and insulting".

"The film-maker is trying to evoke spectators' emotion through exaggeration [and] by distortion of history, especially Iran's revolution and the role of people in it," the embassy said.

Persepolis is based on an autobiographical, graphic novel by Iranian woman Marjane Satrapi.

It won the jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival last year and was nominated for a best animated feature Oscar.

New Zealand International Film Festival director Bill Gosden said he did not believe the film-maker was insulting the values of ancient Iran.

"It's certainly not the festival's intention to do so.

"We do believe that any film-maker is entitled to present their view of events, and that every film-goer should be encouraged to reach their own view of the film-maker's reliability."

- © Fairfax NZ News