Offside

Bursa, 1982. Esnafspor, an amateur football team founded by tradesmen in the Ivazpasa neighbourhood, is close to falling apart. The people around it are dealing with their own lives rather than football: debts, love, the pressure of the neighbourhood and the general climate of a country after a coup. The film is not interested in results. It is interested in a neighbourhood coming apart: the team is really the last excuse for staying together, and the film shows that excuse slipping away. The form is ensemble: many characters, short scenes, and no single hero at the centre. The period design is unfussy and the street scenes are realistic. Serdar Akar directed. It opened on 8 December 2000 and was seen by 141,111 people over a thirteen-week run. At the 2001 Istanbul Film Festival it won Best Film, with Akar named Best Director and Savas Dincel Best Actor. Mujde Ar, Savas Dincel, Rafet El Roman, Erkan Can and Ugur Polat are in the cast. Who it is for: viewers who like Turkish provincial storytelling, the atmosphere of the eighties, and community stories built around football. Who it is not for: anyone expecting a football film. The matches are a small part of it and the story mostly takes place in the coffee house, at home and on the street.