What it’s about
During the chaos of the 2005 World Cup playoff match between Iran and Bahrain, a teenage girl (Mobarakshai) tries to enter Tehran’s sport stadium dressed as a boy, but is quickly apprehended by a soldier (Samandar). Minutes later, she’s stuffed into a holding pen with a group of outspoken female soccer fans who just want to watch the game and they aren’t above hectoring, cajoling, debating, or manipulating their captors to get in.
Why we love it
Written by Panahi after his own 10-year-old daughter was denied entrance to a soccer game due to Islamic restrictions against the mingling of men and women in public arenas, “Offside” is a sharp firecracker of a movie, filmed in real time at an actual World Cup-qualifying match and in its celebratory aftermath. Panahi (“The Circle”) has always focused on the injustice of a society in which the basic rights of women are severely curtailed. Here, a rallying event for the entire country is the catalyst for acts of resistance, starring a group of determined young girls you won't soon forget. Not surprisingly, the film was banned in Iran.