The Final Match

This short film by Saman Salur, an Iranian film director and screenwriter. Two girls, Maryam and Sara, walk through town after school and, behind a car, change their dark school uniform with a Western look. Along an alley, they see football matches on screens in a shop window and are very excited about this male-dominated sport that they are not allowed to play. When they pass a football court, where some boys are playing, the ball comes to a stop in front of Maryam’s foot. After the boys start mocking the girls, Maryam shoots the ball very professionally and makes a goal, to everybody’s amazement. Some days later, the girls discuss about a football match they arranged for that day. Sara is scared and thinks about placing watch-posts while they play, in order to avoid boys mocking them while they play. Later, the two girls are playing football with other teenage girls on the roof of a building, hidden from everybody. The only sound you can hear is the joyous shouting of the girls who have scored.