Just what kind of patience, strength, supportive gear, and skill would it take to cut through rocks? That’s the metaphor Mohammadreza Eyni and Sara Khaki (directors, producers, and editors) use to explain how difficult it is to change what the West calls misogyny in a country where women may be ostensibly revered but most severely restricted.
Welcome to a tiny, northwestern village in Iran, a microcosm of misunderstood Quranic teaching where cultural female oppression and cruelty date back 100s of years.
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize of the World Cinema Documentary Award at the Sundance Film Festival, understandably “Cutting Through Rocks” became a politically dangerous story to film, produce and distribute.
Production began around 2018 when Khaki, a Tehran-born Brooklyn, NY filmmaker, heard about a woman running for council in a rural village in Iran. Intrigued, she learned more and then invited Eyni to join her. As they began filming, the story continued to grow until they surprisingly found themselves immersed in Iranian life, bucking authoritative film restrictions, marrying and living in Iran for 7 years.
Their focus was on Sarah Shahverdi, a divorced woman who had grown up learning from her father how to survive in a man’s world. She became educated, she learned to drive, and she became ambitious. First a midwife, respected and appreciated by her village, she eventually became an advisor to women. When a complaint came about property inheritance amongst her own family, she angrily called a meeting and tore up the legal document the men had worked up to disinherit her sisters. That is our introduction to an extraordinarily strong woman in an archaic patriarchal society.
Eyni and Khaki follow Sarah’s campaign for council. A woman had never run for a position before. What happens when someone the village respects expects to have a seat at the table?
But the story keeps moving forward, and this keeps Eyni and Khaki filming.
A young girl comes to Sarah to help her get a divorce from a child marriage. Sarah must shelter her in her house. She teaches the teenager, like her father taught her, how to drive a motorcycle. The sheer exhilaration of transportation freedom catches on to other girls and soon the men are upset. How does Sarah handle this?
Then the men accuse her of being a man in costume. She must prove she is not.
On and on the challenges roll, creating a story that ends up becoming one of the top five documentary nominations for the 2026 Oscars.
Credits
Directors: Mohammadreza Eyni and Sara Khaki
Producers: Mohammadreza Eyni and Sara Khaki
Cast: Sarah Shahverdi
Cinematographer: Mohammadreza Eyni
Editors: Mohammadreza Eyni and Sara Khaki
Released: Nov. 21, 2025 (limited)
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