| | | A Film by Jafar Panahi.
Features: DVD, Widescreen, Aspect Ratio 1.85:1, Dolby Digital (5.1), English, French, Subtitled
This internationally award-winning film casually and sometimes caustically uncovers what binds us - and blinds us - to the differences between our ways of life in the West with modern day Iran. Fascinating, funny and tragic, it's "a gem of comic action...that explores the ambiguity between the sexes" (The Hollywood Reporter). The Tehran soccer stadium roars with 100,000 cheering men - and only men. According to Islamic custom, women are not allowed, and the ambitious girls who manage to sneak in are caught and sent to a holding pen, guarded by male soldiers their own age. Duty makes the young men and women adversaries, but duty can't overcome their shared dreams, their mutual attraction, and ultimately their overriding sense of national pride and humanity.
"A wonderfully funny, outspoken shaggy-dog story!" Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
"...a sports film unlike any other, and a political film that makes the personal profound." Noel Murray, The Onion A.V. Club
Editor's Note
Winner of the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at the 2006 Berlin International Film Festival, Jafar Panahi's OFFSIDE is a poignant yet playful look at the continued sublimation of women in Iran. Sima Mobarak Shahi stars as a young girl desperate to attend a World Cup qualifying match between Iran and Bahrain in a Tehran stadium; unfortunately, it has been illegal for women to attend sporting events in her country since the 1979 revolution. Dressing up as a boy, she sneaks in but is eventually caught and imprisoned in a makeshift holding pen monitored by a small group of soldiers. She is joined in the pen by other girls (Shayesteh Irani, Ida Sadeghi, Golnaz Farmani, Mahnaz Zabihi, and Nazanin Sedighzadeh) who also attempted to watch the match. As the game goes on and the girls beg the soldiers--most of whom would rather be elsewhere themselves--for updates, the social ills of Iran become a dangerous topic of conversation, especially regarding the fate of the women, which could mean further imprisonment in a real jail, potential exile, or fatal beatings from their family. Each girl and soldier represents a different part of the fabric of Iranian culture, giving a wide-ranging view of what life there is like. Panahi (THE CIRCLE, THE WHITE BALLOON) made OFFSIDE during an actual soccer match, misleading the government on what the film was about in order to receive a permit. Using a handheld digital camera and a tiny crew to avoid the police, OFFSIDE employs a neo-realist style with nonprofessional actors, and is a fascinating fiction film that has the feel and look of a documentary.
| Features | Audio: Farsi Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound | | Interactive Menus | | Interview With Director Jafar Panahi | | Scene Selection | | Subtitles: English, French |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Sony Pictures |
| Release Date: 8/28/2007 |
| Running Time: 92 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2007 | | Catalog ID: 17097 | | UPC: 00043396170971 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: Farsi | | Available Audio Tracks: Farsi | | Available Subtitles: English, French | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1 |
| Cast & Crew
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| | Professional Reviews | Entertainment Weekly
"[A] wonderfully funny, outspoken shaggy-dog story..." -- Grade: A- 03/30/2007 p.54Entertainment Weekly
"A brisk, boisterous Iranian dramedy....Director Jafar Panahi coaxes spirited performances from his nonprofessional cast..." -- Grade: B 09/07/2007 p.67 Reel.com 8 of 10
A beguiling, deceptively simple slice-of-life drama, shot cinema verite style, Offside reaffirms Jafar Panahi's preeminence as one of the most humanistic and socially progressive filmmakers in contemporary Iranian cinema...Deftly guiding a cast of non-professional actors through the loosely structured, conversational screenplay he co-wrote with Shadmehr Rastin, Panahi (The White Balloon) shies away from making any overt political statements in Offside. It's a bittersweet and understated film that gently rebukes the cultural status quo, which views women as delicate, hothouse flowers, certain to wilt in the presence of all that aggressive masculinity at soccer matches...That soccer ultimately trumps politics in the hearts and minds of all the Iranians brings Panahi's Offside to a hopeful close. - Tim Knight
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