CUTTING THROUGH ROCKS

Synopsis

As the first elected councilwoman of her Iranian village, Sara Shahverdi aims to break long-held patriarchal traditions by training teenage girls to ride motorcycles and stopping child marriages. When accusations arise questioning Sara’s intentions to empower the girls, her identity is put in turmoil.

Credits

Awards

Festivals

Film Details

Biography

Sara Khaki

Sara Khaki is an Oscar-nominated documentary director, producer, and editor dedicated to telling stories around women empowerment and gender equality. Sara is Sundance Grand Jury Award winner for her feature documentary Cutting Through Rocks, which has also received a nomination from Directors Guild of America (DGA). The film has traveled to over 100 film festivals worldwide and has won numerous awards, including audience awards at Dok Leipzig, Visions du Réel, and IDFA, among others. Described by IndieWire as “a deftly shaped work of cinematic nonfiction” and by POV Magazine as “a profound vérité documentary,” the film marks Sara’s directorial debut, which also earned an Outstanding Achievement in Directing Award from NYWIFT at Woodstock. Her IDA Award–nominated short, Our Iranian Lockdown (2020) streams on The Guardian. 

A co-founder of Gandom Films Production, Sara is a Sundance Film Institute, Chicken & Egg films and Firelight Media grantee. Her work continues to amplify change on gender equality through cinema verite form. 

Sara holds a BFA in Cinematic Arts from the University of Maryland and an MFA in Social Documentary Filmmaking from the School of Visual Arts.
 

Mohammadreza Eyni

Mohammadreza Eyni is an Oscar-nominated director, producer, and cinematographer whose work bridges boundaries and connects diverse global perspectives. He is a Sundance Grand Jury Award winner for Cutting Through Rocks, which has also won audience awards at IDFA, Dok Leipzig, Warsaw, Sydney Film Festival, New Zealand International Film Festival, and Visions du Réel, among others. A Directors Guild of America (DGA) nominee, Mohammadreza’s cinematic approach has been praised as “uniquely propulsive,” “practically magical” (Variety), and “delivering simple moments into cinematic poetry” (Hammer to Nail). His intimate short film Our Iranian Lockdown (The Guardian) received an IDA Award nomination.

Mohammadreza was named one of the top five cinematographers at Sundance 2025 and has been supported by Tribeca Film Institute, Sundance, IDFA Bertha Foundation, and Hot Docs Cross Current Doc Fund. He holds an MFA in Cinema from Tehran University of Fine Arts.