Offside

Offside (2006) is Jafar Panahi's Iranian tragicomedy, available to watch online on iFILM. On the day Iran plays Bahrain in a World Cup qualifier, the stadium gates stay shut to half the population — women.

A handful of young women dress as men to slip past security and cheer on the national team. Caught one by one, they end up penned in a makeshift holding area just outside the stands, close enough to hear the roar but never to see a goal. The conscript soldiers guarding them, country boys themselves, slowly realize their prisoners just want to watch football like everyone else.

Panahi shot it almost like reportage, using non-actors during an actual 2005 qualifier; the film was banned at home yet took the Grand Jury Prize, the Silver Bear, at the 2006 Berlinale. It isn't a lecture but a wry, warm-hearted jab at an absurd rule. Stream Offside (2006) online on iFILM.