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.