Offside(2006)
dir. Jafar Panahi
Girls sneak into a World Cup qualifier, in disguise.
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Tehran, 2005, on the day Iran plays Bahrain to qualify for the World Cup. Women are not allowed into the stadium, so a group of girls disguise themselves as boys to get in, and are caught and penned up on a roof by bored young soldiers. They argue, joke and listen to the match on the radio. Panahi shot it during the real game, with non-professional actors, and was banned from filming in Iran. Funny, sharp and warm toward the guards, too.
Why it’s here
It's a film about a rule that doesn't survive a conversation. What's punk is how its girls refuse to be embarrassed and its guards slowly stop believing in the rule. What's pedagogical is how it shows a state's absurdity through the people who have to enforce it. A close relative of It Was Just an Accident (in the catalog) and Taxi (suggested 10-27), and ties to the Iran bundle. Note: Persian with subtitles; one scene of a guard's crude remark. Panahi has been imprisoned over his work, and the film was banned in Iran.
Where This Film Lives