FOOTBALL UNDER COVER

Directed by David Assmann & Ayat Najafi

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 21 12NOON CASTRO

Teheran in April 2006. Iran’s national women’s team and a local Berlin women’s football team are playing their first official friendly match – before a crowd of more than a thousand cheering women. The atmosphere at the stadium is electric and super-charged with girl power. Outside the stadium, a few men peer through the fencing, trying to catch a glimpse of the proceedings, because today, men are barred from the game. It has taken the young women of both teams a whole year of bitter struggle to get where they are today, a struggle against testosterone, arbitrariness and oppression. Iranian player Niloofar who, as she says, does whatever she wants, dreams of Beckham and helps Marlene from Kreuzberg plan the big event and understand the Iranian codes of behaviour.
Filmmakers Najafi and Assman succeed in
making much more than just a soccer film, they show how the persistence and shared passions of the two teams from different parts of the world translate into an inter-cultural victory of “Yes We Can!”

Co-presented by FRAMELINE

PURCHASE TICKET

© Flying Moon Filmproduktion GmbH/Assmann 2007

Northern California Premiere

Country
Germany
Year
2008
Run Time
35mm, 86min., German
with English subtitles
Camera
Niclas Reed Middleton
Anne Misselwitz
Screenwriter
David Assmann
Ayat Najafi
Printsource
Flying Moon Filmproduktion
Email
info@flyingmoon.com

Awards
Berlin International Film Festival 2008: Teddy for Best Documentary &
Volkswagen Audience Award.
Pink Apple 2008, Switzerland: Audience Award
L.A. Outfest 2008: Freedom Award

Directors

David Assmann
was born in 1978 and went to school in Berlin, Heidelberg, Jerusalem, Santa Monica and Konstanz. He has studied film at the University of Mainz since 2001. FOOTBALL UNDER COVER is his first full-length film.
Ayat Najafi
was born in Teheran in 1976 and lives in Iran and Berlin. He studied stage and set design in Teheran, where he participated in theatrical productions as director, author, actor and set designer. After completing his studies in 2001 he made several short films and took part in the Berlinale Talent Campus in 2005. FOOTBALL UNDER COVER is his first full-length film.