Iran | ‘As if one were under water’

In Iran, Kreuzberg team learns about football under cover

Berlin, Sept 29 | Filmmaker Ayat Najafi had to content himself with experiencing the centerpiece of his new project, Football Under Cover, as an exile.

At Ararat Stadium in Tehran on 28 Apr 06, Najafi stood outside the arena along with husbands of the women inside—players for the Iranian women’s national team, their amateur opponents, BSV Al-Dersimspor of Kreuzberg, and about 1,000 female supporters.

Grown in Galilee | Bnei Sakhnin, by cultivating football, hopes to harvest peace

Sakhnin, Israel, Sept 5 | A small Arab Israeli town of 25,000 residents, nestled in a lower Galilee valley among fig and olive orchards, with an illustrious history and a difficult present, has become world famous within the past three years—all thanks to its soccer team.

A new documentary film, Sons of Sakhnin United, examines Bnei Sakhnin’s place as a bridge builder in divided Israel.

After quest, no ‘Victory’ | Top-5 films do not feature soccer on the Sly

We recently supplied the Atlanta Journal-Constitution with a list of our five favorite soccer movies (“Gimme 5: Films for the Soccer Fan,” Aug 20). We limited ourselves to feature films available via DVD and to those we had actually seen, resisting the urge to include Le Ballon d’Or (The Golden Ball; France/Guinea, 1994) based on reputation alone.

Offside trap | Iranian women, in Panahi’s film, move beyond a boundary

Tehran, Iran, Mar 28 | The women in “Offside”—Jafar Panahi’s 2006 production now receiving limited release in American cinemas—have “entered a forbidden space before the law has given them permission to do so,” says the Iranian director.

“They don’t have that permission yet, but they’ve gone ahead and entered the territory anyway. They’ve overturned the rules.”