Offside (2006/I)

Director:

Jafar Panahi

Writers:

Jafar Panahi (writer)
Shadmehr Rastin (writer)

Release Date:

26 May 2006 (Austria)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Sport

Tagline:

In Iran, All Women Are Banned From Men's Sporting Events

Plot:

Struggle of Women in a country that excludes them from entering the stadiums.

Plot Keywords:

Controversial | Law | Iran | Mobile Phone | Gender Disguise

Awards:

4 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Sima Mobarak-Shahi	...	First girl
Shayesteh Irani	...	Smoking girl
Ayda Sadeqi	...	Soccer girl
Golnaz Farmani	...	Girl with tchador
Mahnaz Zabihi	...	Female soldier
Nazanin Sediq-zadeh	...	Young girl
Melika Shafahi
Safdar Samandar	...	Soldier from Azerbaijan
Mohammad Kheir-abadi	...	Soldier from Mashad
Masoud Kheymeh-kabood	...	Soldier from Tehran
Mohammed-Reza Gharebaghi
Hadi Saeedi
Masoud Gheyas-vand
Ali Baradari
Ali Roshan

MPAA:

Rated PG for language throughout, and some thematic elements.

Runtime:

93 min | Germany:88 min (Berlin International Film Festival)

Country:

Iran

Language:

Persian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby SR

Certification:

Netherlands:12 | Germany:o.Al. | USA:PG | Sweden:7 | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | Argentina:Atp | South Korea:All | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Brazil:12 | Hong Kong:I | UK:PG | Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Azadi Stadium, Tehran, Iran

Company:

Jafar Panahi Film Productions

Trivia:

This film just like other films of director, Jafar Panahi is banned in Iran.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "At the Movies: (2006-09-27)" (2006)

Girls Will Be Boys

I felt this movie was as much about human sexuality as anything else, whether intentionally or not. We are also shown how absurd and paradoxical it is for women not to be allowed to such a nationally important event, meanwhile forgetting the pasts of our respective "advanced" nations. I write from Japan, where women merely got the right to vote 60 years ago, and female technical engineers are a recent phenomenon. Pubs in England were once all-male, the business world was totally off-limits for women in America until rather recently, and women in China had their feet bound so they couldn't develop feet strong enough to escape their husbands. Iran is conveniently going through this stage in our time, and we get a good look at how ridiculous we have all looked at one time or another. Back to the issue of sexuality, we are made to wonder what it may be intrinsically about women that make them unfit for a soccer game (the official reason is that the men are bad). Especially such boyish girls, a couple so much so that you even get the feeling that lesbianism is on the agenda as well. I think one point is that not all women are the same, and the women the police are trying to "protect" are not the ones who would try to get in in the first place. The opening scenes of the approach to the stadium makes you appreciate the valor of the young women trying to get in -- and each one separately -- at all. It is a brutish man's world. Any woman brave enough to try to go should be allowed! The world of sexuality is not one-size-fits-all.

Meanwhile, the apprehended criminal girls bond inside the makeshift pen awaiting their deportation to who-knows-where, and in a much more subtle way, begin to bond with the guards keeping watch over them. These had definite ideas about women and femininity, which were being challenged head-on. The change in attitude is glacial, but visible.

Since the movie is pure Iran from the first moment, it takes a little easing-into for the foreigner, but the characters have a special way of endearing themselves to you, and you end up getting the whole picture, and even understanding the men's misunderstandings and give them slack. The supposed villain is the unseen patriarchy of the Ayatollahs, which remain unseen and unnamed, and likely unremembered.

Knowing that this movie was filmed during the actual event of the Iran-Bahrain match gives me a feeling of awe for all involved.