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

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Film Details

Biography

Sara Khaki

Sara Khaki is the Grand Jury Award winner of the World Cinema Documentary category of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival for her feature documentary, Cutting Through Rocks. Her co-directed film, Our Iranian Lockdown, featured on The Guardian, was nominated for a 2020 IDA Award, which led to her co-directing contribution to the Netflix Original documentary feature, Convergence, which received a 2022 Emmy nomination. A Chicken & Egg Films and Sundance Alumni, Sara is a director, producer, and editor with dedication to stories about gender equity. Sara graduated from the University of Maryland Baltimore with a BFA in cinematic arts and from the School of Visual Arts (SVA) with an MFA in Social Documentary Filmmaking. She is the co-founder of Gandom Films Production L.L.C., a US-based company that collaborates with top industry professionals to create socially engaging films.

Mohammadreza Eyni

Mohammadreza Eyni is the Grand Jury Award winner of the World Cinema Documentary category of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival for his feature documentary, Cutting Through Rocks. A Sundance and Tribeca Alumnus, Mohammadreza is a director, producer, and cinematographer, whose career and cinematic approach bridges boundaries and elevates underrepresented voices, connecting diverse perspectives globally. As the co-founder of Gandom Films Production L.L.C., Mohammadreza has produced and directed international films, such as his co-directing contribution on the feature-length documentary, Convergence, a Netflix Original, which received a 2022 Emmy nomination. Mohammadreza’s co-directed short Our Iranian Lockdown, featured on The Guardian, was nominated for an IDA Award. His collaboration as a writer and producer on a fiction film hasrecently been developed at HFPA and Film Independent. A 2021 Firelight Media fellow, 2020 Sundance Institute Documentary Fund grantee and Tribeca Film Institute alum, Mohammadreza graduated with an MFA in cinema from Tehran University of Fine Arts.