Keswick Film Club - Offside

Synopsis

Football is a hot topic in Iran, since the country qualified for the 2006 World Cup, but women are forbidden to attend matches. Offside is a vibrant, humorous work from writer/director Jafar Panahi (The Circle, Crimson Gold) which portrays the efforts of a group of teenage girls to sneak into a crucial international qualifying game at Tehran's main stadium. Their conflict with the authorities gives rise to situations which depict the absurdity and difficulty of the position of women in Iran's patriarchal system.
Critics have likened this film to the best work of Ken Loach, whose humour and social critique are reflected in the predicaments of Offside's characters. The finale has interesting glimpses of what Iran's best-known director sees in store for his country's future