Shaolin Soccer in 35mm

Jesminder “Jess” Bhamra (Parminder Nagra) dreams of playing professional soccer, but her strict Sikh parents have designs on her future as a lawyer and wife. So when Jess is recruited to join the local amateur team by the confident Jules (Keira Knightley), Jess keeps the hobby from her family, until a publicized match forces her father to reckon with his daughter’s true passion. Named for a kick technique popularized by English soccer star David Beckham, this British comedy was a critical success that inspired a generation of women to take up the sport.

Since 1979, women in Iran have been barred from attending male sporting events, though intrepid female fans often disguise themselves as men to gain access. After his daughter tried the same on multiple occasions, filmmaker Jafar Panahi co-wrote this narrativized account of young women who attempt to sneak into the June 2005 Iran/Bahrain FIFA World Cup-qualifying match in Tehran. Oscar-nominated screenwriter Panahi uses the backdrop of the actual 2005 game to underscore the overwhelming male presence in public spaces and the inequality faced by women in 2006—a reality still pervasive 20 years later—as well as the value of community solidarity in the face of oppressive regulations on the populace.