DC/DOX 2025: The Woman 'Cutting Through Rocks' for Progress in Rural Iran

On Saturday, I attended a screening of Mohammadreza Eyni and Sara Khaki’s Cutting Through Rocks, the inspirational story of a woman breaking down gender boundaries as the first elected female minister in her northwestern Iranian village. Eyni and Khaki’s tones were somber as they introduced the documentary, alluding vaguely to the developments of Israel’s recent aerial attack on Iran and President Trump’s concurrent military parade, which was occurring just four blocks away from our theater. In spite of the small audience, they said that it was the most important screening they’ve had thus far. 

The documentary premiered at Sundance back in January, where it won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize. Notwithstanding the mood surrounding the screening, the film is largely empowering. Its trailblazing protagonist is Sara Shahverdi, a concise, suit-wearing midwife-turned-politician who intends to make her mark on her community. In addition to overseeing infrastructure projects and other public affairs, she intervenes in all-girl classrooms and explains the benefits of staying in school. Particularly in rural parts of Iran, there is a strong culture of child marriage, and girls seldom reach higher levels of education before they are married off to older men. Shahverdi forms special bonds with a few of them, inviting them back to her home to discuss their feelings of injustice and ambition. 

The most obvious representation of Shahverdi’s fearlessness – hinted at by the machina-evocative title – is her love of motorcycles, which is shown to have been nurtured by her father since she was young. When not riding fearlessly on her own, she invites local girls to try out their own family’s hot rods. In one such instance, despite the child’s parents’ approval, a girl is spotted and reprimanded by her uncle. He hits her, and tells her that what she’s doing is shameful. In the aftermath, Shahverdi comforts her by conceding the reality of societal transgression: “to do something unconventional, sometimes there are consequences.”

Shahverdi’s efforts do not come without her own consequences. She is divorced, and therefore extra scrutinized under the moralistic eye of the law and her peers. In one scene, she is cheered on by passersby while campaigning from her car. In the next, men smoking hookah in a bar critique the audacity of her objectives. It is impressive that the filmmakers achieved and maintained access to both male and female spheres, which compellingly flesh out the peculiarities of her character  – director Eyni noted during the Q&A that it is rather rare for men to be able to film women in Iran, and was often aided by Khaki’s presence – but the combined effect is undeniable. At one point, Shahverdi is brought into police questioning because of suspicion about her true gender. She is chastised for bringing young girls into her home and then forced to undergo testing. Despite her resilience, even Shahverdi admits to being humiliated by this investigation.

Not all ends well; the film’s most poignant scene parallels images from Shahverdi’s first wedding with the accelerated ceremony of a 16-year-old she’s been mentoring. The surface-level fanfare of the bright colors and supportive relatives is deceiving, but the camera consistently drifts toward the made-up young bride, who, when not veiled, appears crestfallen. In spite of Shahverdi’s intention to convince the parents to free the child from the union – which she has been bound to since the age of 12 – her straightforward trajectory from daughter to wife goes on as planned.

Khaki and Eyni worked on this film for seven years. They say its result as a testament to Shahverdi’s impact was only achieved through a great deal of patience; although many of the girls Shahverdi spoke to in the local school still got married, a few of them did not. Those remaining joined her in riding their motorcycles, a symbolic gesture toward their independence. Shahverdi, likewise, is patient with her locale's progress. 

Documentary sales outfit Autlook acquired the film in February, but it is still seeking a U.S. distributor. For more information about Eyni and Khaki’s work, check out their website, Gandom Productions.

On a final note, Human Rights Activists News Agency, an Iranian human rights organization, has reported that 263 civilians have been killed and another 335 injured since the onslaught of violence between Israel and Iran on June 13, 2025. 

-Lydia