Event: FOOTBALL UNDER COVER at the DOXA Motion Pictures
Series
Date: Thursday, November 26th, 2009, 7:00 P.M.
Venue: Fifth Avenue Cinemas, 2110 Burrard Street, Vancouver, B.C.
Admission: $10.00 (October online offer only: Series package - 4 films
for $30.00)
DOXA Documentary Film Series: MOTION PICTURES
2nd Screening: Football Under Cover
Vancouver, BC - DOXA
Documentary Film Festival is pleased to announce the second film in the
2009/2010 Motion Pictures Film Series, a selection of award-winning
documentaries that look at the complex issues surrounding the body, athleticism,
the politics of sports and the drive we have to get our bodies in motion.
On November 26th
DOXA will present the multiple award-winning Football Under Cover
from directors Ayat Najafi and David Assman (Iran/Germany). Since its world
premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival, Football Under Cover
has picked up numerous awards. This will be the BC
premiere.
Marlene, a
player on the German women's soccer team in Kreuzberg learns that the Iranian
National Women's Football Team in Tehran has never played another team. Marlene
herself confesses that she has rarely finished anything she started, but she
makes it her mission to set up a match between her multi-cultural German team
and the Iranian women. To get the process started, headscarves are purchased and
a trip to Iran is booked.
There
Marlene gets to know some of the Iranian players; Niloofar pulls her cap down
low and zips her jacket up to her chin, to pass as a boy, in order to be able to
train without a headscarf, just once. She does what she wants, she says, dreams
about Beckham while helping Marlene plan the big event.
All these young women
want to do is play football together, yet it takes a year of hard work and a
fair amount of risk-taking to make it happen.
In Germany, the women
prepare by learning rules they must follow in Iran: head scarves must always be
worn, no sandals, behaviour regarded as "indecent" is strictly punished -
sometimes by death, homosexual acts are illegal.
Miles away in Iran,
Narmila and her mother are kicking a ball around the street, chadors and
headscarves flowing. It is impractical but they manage. Narmila's mother was on
the national team before the revolution and teaches soccer skills to her
daughter, her eyes shining. Her husband banned her from playing after their
wedding, but he is now dead and so she bolts through the dust with her daughter.
When the game finally
takes place, men are barred from the stadium, the players chafe under
appropriate covering, and loudspeakers sternly warn female fans against
excessive celebration. However the stadium is electric with more than 1000
screaming woman fans. At time gripping and exasperating, then joyful and moving
- these 90 minutes are about more than just a football game.
Winner - Berlin
International Film Festival, 2008 Best Documentary & Audience Award
Winner - Friedensfilm preis, 2008 Audience Award
Winner - Pink Apple Film Festival Zurich, 2008 Audience Award
Winner - Outfest Los Angeles, Freedom Award
Winner - Molise Cinema Italy, Best Documentary Award
Tickets: DOXA
website (www.doxafestival.ca),
Videomatica (1855 W.4th Ave.), Biz Books (302 W. Cordova St.), and
Bibliophile (2010 Commercial Dr.)
Information:
www.doxafestival.ca or 604.646.3200
... Payvand News - 11/10/09 ... --
