The film won a Jury Award at the recent Cannes Film Festival and was slated to open the Tourism Authority of Thailand-hosted festival here next month.

"We were asked by the embassy to take the film out of the event due to its sensitivity," festival director Chattan Kunjara na Ayudhya said.

'Persepolis' is based on Marjane Satrapi's illustrated novel of the same name. Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud produced the black and white film in France.

It tells the story of a young girl in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. Through the eyes of nine-year-old Marjane it shows how people's hopes were dashed as fundamentalists took power, forced the veil on women and imprisoned thousands. The title is a reference to the historic town of Persepolis.

"We asked the organisers to take this film out because it represents a negative image of Iran. It may be harmful to the Kingdom because many Iranian citizens live in Thailand. We want to create a good image of our nation," said an embassy diplomat who asked not to be named.

"We have many beautiful images that represent Iran so we recommend the organisers present other films instead."

The film drew an angry response from Iran ahead of its Cannes debut. The state-associated Iran Farabi Foundation wrote to French diplomats in Tehran calling the screening "an unconventional and unsuitable act".

It said the film was "an unrealistic face of the achievements and results of the glorious Islamic Revolution in some of its parts".

At Cannes, Satrapi dedicated her award to "all Iranians".

Chattan said the festival at SF World Cinema at CentralWorld would screen more than 100 short and feature-length dramas, comedies, animations and documentaries from more than 30 countries.