07:30 PM ยป
FOOTBALL, IRANIAN STYLE, DOCUMENTARY
Pacific Film Archive Theater:
2575 Bancroft Way @ Bowditch, Berkeley
Phone: 510-642-1412
http://www.bampfa.berkeley.edu
Maziar Bahari (Iran, 2001)
(Football beh sabk-e Irani). In 1997 Iran qualified for the 1998
World Cup, setting off street celebrations and spontaneous
demonstrations and confirming that sport could in fact unite-or
ignite-a nation. Maziar Bahari's street-level documentary
examines the delirious hold that football (soccer) has on
Iranians, whether they be obsessed young men in Tehran's biggest
stadium, immigrants living in Germany, or young girls who
practice their soccer skills in secret. Further proving that
sport mirrors a nation's psyche (and, depending on the score,
sometimes influences it), Football, Iranian Style crystallizes
social influences such as war, religion, and capitalism through
its subjects' passions. As one fan (the son of an Iran-Iraq war
martyr) unnervingly vows to sacrifice his life for his favorite
team, claiming to always wear the squad's red colors, a star
player tellingly responds, "My blood is green now, the color of
money."-Jason Sanders
* Photographed by Bahari. (50 mins, In Farsi with English
subtitles, Color, Video, From Iranian Independents)
Preceded by short:
I Used to Be a Filmmaker (Jay Rosenblatt, U.S., 2003). Inspired by
his baby daughter, filmmaker Jay Rosenblatt finds hilarious new
meanings for "shadow play" and other terms of the filmmaker's art.
This joyous short film playfully describes an identity changed
forever by fatherhood. (10 mins, Color, Video, From the artist)
Posted by ahmad () at November 7, 2003 7:30 PM
