Franco-Iranian creator Marjane Satrapi passed away at 56, a year after the death of her husband Mattias Ripa. Satrapi, who fled Iran in 1994 and gained French citizenship in 2006, built a global reputation with the graphic novel and film Persepolis, a personal account of life under the 1979 Islamic regime. President Macron called her a great artist who turned her Iranian childhood into a universal story.

Satrapi’s work extended beyond memoir. She co‑directed the 2007 Cannes Jury‑Prize winning adaptation of Persepolis and later made the 2019 biopic Radioactive about Marie Curie. Her 2024 English‑language collection documented the "Women, Life, Freedom" protests sparked by Mahsa Amini’s death, and she joined a Paris rally marking the movement’s second anniversary. The Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi’s foundation praised Satrapi as a fearless feminist voice.

After Mattias Ripa died in April 2023, Satrapi founded the Mattias and Marjane Ripa‑Satrapi Cinema Foundation to fund foreign film students in Paris. She declined France’s Legion d’honneur in protest of visa policies, underscoring her activist stance. Satrapi’s death marks the loss of a creator who fused personal exile with advocacy, leaving a body of work that continues to inspire.