Download large-format PDF Spring 2008 Poster Download 8 1/2 x 11 PDF Spring 2008 Schedule February 5 OFFSIDE Directed by Jafar Panahi; 2007, Iran, 93 mins. Winner of the Silver Bear at the 2006 Berlin International Film Festival, OFFSIDE, the latest film from Jafar Panahi (THE CIRCLE), is both hilarious and poignant. OFFSIDE is a most unusual sports film, a feminist comedy that is also a plea for women’s rights in Iranian society. Here, various young women (it has been illegal for women to attend sporting events in Iran since the 1979 revolution) meet up at a World-Cup-qualifying soccer match in Tehran's Azadi stadium where they disguise themselves as men to gain entrance. Panahi made the film 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.