Tale of defiant Iranian female soccer fan echoes Tehran protests

'The Football Aficionado' wins best Asian documentary at Busan film festival

20221106 A Football Aficionado outside stadium

In a scene from “The Football Aficionado,” Zahra Khoshnavaz takes a selfie outside Tehran’s Azadi Stadium. The arena’s name means “freedom.” (Courtesy of Busan International Film Festival)

MATHEW SCOTT, Contributing writer

November 7, 2022 11:00 JST

HONG KONG -- Two months ago, a young Iranian woman died in police custody after being arrested for not fully covering her hair.

Anger over the death of Mahsa Amini and frustration with social controls on their activities and movements have led thousands of women in Iran to take to the streets in some of the biggest protests the country has seen since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.