British Indian director Gurinder Chadha’s third feature tells the story of teenager Jess Bhamra (Parminder Nagra in a winning breakout performance), an avid soccer fan, dreams of living up to the example of her idol, star player David Beckham, against the wishes of her culturally conservative Punjabi elders. When new friend Jules (Keira Knightley) persuades her to join the local women’s team without her parents’ knowledge, Jess quickly wins the acceptance and respect of her teammates and their coach (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), but must struggle to reconcile her passion for the game with her family’s expectations.

In the 21 years since its U.K. release, Chadha’s film—which remains the highest-grossing soccer film of all time, and boasts scene-stealing supporting performances by Anupam Kher, Archie Punjabi, and Juliet Stevenson—has continued to be hailed as a latter-day classic of its intersecting genres, simultaneously excelling as crowd-pleasing sports movie, winning romantic comedy, and heartfelt cross-cultural coming-of-age fable. (Text courtesy of Film Society at Lincoln Center)