Offside

Controversial Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi (whose previous films include The White Balloon, The Circle, and Crimson Gold) got the idea for Offside when his daughter successfully slipped past stadium guards and snuck into a soccer match in Tehran, where she joined her father in a stadium full of men (Iranian women are not allowed to attend public sporting events in Iran, although women of other nationalities face no such restrictions). Initially denied permission to make Offside, Panahi submitted a fake screenplay and director's name to Iran's Ministry of Guidance (to obtain filming permits) and proceeded to film Offside clandestinely at the actual Tehran soccer match that serves as the film's central location. The story concerns a group of young women—dedicated soccer fans—trying to sneak into the pivotal 2005 World Cup qualification match between Tehran and Bahrain. As the match continues, several of these dynamic young women are detained in a makeshift holding pen outside the stadium, where event guards and Tehran police try to maintain order, while also sharing the women's enthusiasm for soccer. Panahi injects plenty of on-the-spot humor into this simple yet politically charged story, but the film's seriousness of purpose is clear: illogical rules and sexist policies are no match for the indomitable human spirit. Recommended. [Note: DVD extras include a 36-minute interview with Panahi, recorded at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival, in which he discusses how Offside became an underground hit on secretly-distributed DVDs in Iran after it was officially denied theatrical distribution. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a winning film.] (J. Shannon)