This docufictional masterwork from Academy Award-nominee Jafar Panahi (It Was Just an Accident) follows a day in the life of a group of young Iranian women who attempt to sneak into the stadium in Tehran to watch their team’s World Cup qualifying match against Bahrain. Inspired by the day when the filmmaker’s own daughter was refused entry to a soccer stadium, as women are prevented by law from attending live soccer matches in Iran, Offside couples unflinching political commentary with the rich breadth of empathy and disarming sense of humor which have come to characterize Jafar Panahi’s truly singular body of work.

In celebration of the 2026 World Cup, the Jacob Burns Film Center presents two very different films about the beautiful game: Jafar Panahi’s Offside and Stephen Chow’s Shaolin Soccer.