OFFSIDE
Iran - 2006
88 min, 35 mm

Directed by: Jafar Panahi
Script: Jafar Panahi, Shadmehr Rastin
DOP: Mahmood KALARI
Editing: Jafar Panahi
With: Sima Mobarak Shahi, Safar Samandar, Shayesteh Irani, M. Kheyrabadi

Who is that strange boy sitting quietly in the corner of a bus full of screaming fans going to the football match?  In fact, this shy boy is a girl in disguise. She is not alone, women also love football in Iran.  Before the game begins, she is arrested at the check point and put into a holding pen just by the stadium with a band of other women all dressed up as men. They will be handed over to the vice squad after the match. But before this, they will be tortured! They must endure every cheer, every shout of a game they cannot see.  Worse yet, they must listen to the play-by-play account of a soldier who knows nothing about football.  Yet, these young girls just won't give up. They use every trick in the book to see the match. A smart comedy illustrating the fight for women's rights in Iran.

Jafar Panahi
Panahi debuted with 1995's The White Balloon, Camera d'Or winner at the Cannes Festival. The story of a young girl's adventures as she seeks to buy a lucky goldfish for New Year, The White Balloon marked the emergence of a new cinema talent. Panahi's 1997 film, The Mirror, received the Locarno Festival's Golden Leopard, and confirmed the young director's promise. Crimson Gold was selected in Un Certain Regard at Cannes in 2003 where it won the Jury Prize. It went on to win a number of best film awards and opened to excellent critical response. Panahi's The Circle won the Golden Lion at the 2000 Venice Film Festival.
The unsettling drama about the social dilemma of several modern Iranian women was named FIPRESCI's "Film of the Year" and appeared on Top 10 lists of critics worldwide.

Festivals:
Melbourne International Film Festival, 2006
Istanbul International Film Festival, 2006
Awards:
Silver Bear, Berlin International Film Festival, 2006


Celluloid Dreams
Phone: +33 1 4970 0370
Fax: + 33 1 4970 0371
info@celluloid-dreams.com
www.celluloid-dreams.com

 

 

 
Sfantu Gheorghe
Sfantu Gheorghe... a magical place, where the Danube meets the Black Sea, an unconventional, picturesque place out of time... with many flowers, sun, sand, vividly painted houses burst by the wind, with hand-made wooden decorations and reed roofs
Green Village
Twenty two 4 stars villas (90 rooms), three luxury restaurants, three bars, a business center with cinema and conference halls, swimming pool, sauna and badminton court are waiting for their guests to offer them unique moments in a place of an amazing beauty.
Dolphin Camping
The Dolphin Camping, 3 stars, is situated on the banks of a channel covered with water lillies. A destination for the nostalgics of the relaxed holidays and the endless, almost desert beaches. But also for those who love films and good music...