Offside
1:0, in favour of Iran! But the goal can’t be seen, because the camera is stuck outside the stadium, “offside”, along with a group of girls. In Iran, only men are allowed inside – so the girls dress up as boys. Though they get caught, they refuse to be intimidated. In what becomes a hilarious battle of the sexes, the cheeky, determined girls from the city argue about the ban’s absurdity with the young soldiers from the countryside who have been charged with enforcing it. Comedy prevails, but beneath the light-hearted surface, injustice simmers. Inspired by an experience he shared with his daughter, football fan Panahi shot much of Offside outside a roaring stadium during a real game.
Courtesy of the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia
Special Guests
One of the world’s great cinema artists, Jafar Panahi has been crafting self-reflexive works about political, artistic and personal freedom for the past three decades, despite being banned from filmmaking by the government of his native Iran since 2010. He is the only living filmmaker to win the top prizes at the Berlinale, Venice and Cannes, winning the Golden Bear for TEHRAN TAXI (SFF 2015), the Golden Lion for THE CIRCLE (SFF 2001) and the Palme d'Or this year for IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT.
Tickets
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