Cutting Through Rocks - Wikipedia
Cutting Through Rocks
| Cutting Through Rocks | |
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 Promotional poster | |
| Directed by |
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| Produced by |
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| Cinematography | Mohammaderza Eyni |
| Edited by |
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| Music by | Karim Sebastian Elias |
Production company | Gandom Films Production |
Release dates | |
Running time | 95 minutes |
| Countries |
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Cutting Through Rocks is a 2025 documentary film directed by Mohammadreza Eyni and Sara Khaki, in their feature debut. It follows the first Iranian woman elected as a councilwoman in a rural village.[2][3][4]
The film had its world premiere at the World Documentary Competition section of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival on 27 January. At the 98th Academy Awards, it was nominated for Best Documentary.
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.[5]
Sheila Nevins, former head of MTV Documentary Films, serves as one of the film's executive producers, along with Meadow Fund, Chandra Jesse, Monika Parekh, Rebecca Lichtenfeld, Judith Helfand, Julie Parker Benello, Geralyn White Dreyfous, and Jenny Warburg.[6]Diana Barrett, James Graham, and Thomas Lennon are Contributing Producers. Rebecca Celli is a Consulting Producer.[7]
Release
Cutting Through Rocks had its world premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival in the World Documentary Competition.[1] Following its Sundance premiere, the film also screened at Visions du Réel, San Francisco International Film Festival, Sydney Film Festival, Edinburgh International Film Festival, International Film Festival Amsterdam, DOC NYC, and Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival.
The film released in the United States at Film Forum on 21 November 2025, followed by a limited theatrical release in the United States, Canada, and the UK.[8] During its release at Film Forum, The New York Times made the film a Critic’s Pick, with film critic Sheri Linden calling it "a film that pulses with so much hopefulness."[9]
Reception
Critical response
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 100% rating with 31 critics' reviews.[10] Following its Sundance premiere, Lauren Wissot from IndieWire called the film "a deftly shaped work of cinematic nonfiction" and Autlook Filmsales, one of the leading documentary sales outfits,[11] acquired the film.[12]
On January 31, Cutting Through Rocks received the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, with the Sundance jury saying, "this beautiful and nuanced portrait shows us a fearless eccentric who confronts male-dominated society when she runs for office in a remote Iranian village. Her determination, warmth, and humor and the way her story is told left us in awe."[13]
The film has received dozens awards from festivals across the world. On April 11, during its international premiere, the film was awarded the Audience Award in the Wide Angle section at Visions du Réel in Nyon, Switzerland.[14] Other audience awards at major film festivals include Giffoni Film Festival, New Zealand International Film Festival, and International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam. Cutting Through Rocks also received the Best Documentary Feature award and the NYWIFT Award for Excellence in Directing from Woodstock Film Festival and the Jury Award for Best First Feature at Newport Beach Film Festival.[15]
On December 16, Cutting Through Rocks was featured on the shortlist for the 98th Academy Awards, under the Best Documentary Feature category.[16] Following the shortlist release, the film was featured as number seven on IndieWire's The Best Documentaries of 2025 list.[17]
Accolades
| Award / Film Festival | Year | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sundance Film Festival | 2025 | Grand Jury Prize, World Documentary Competition | Cutting Through Rocks | Won | [13] |
| Visions du Réel | 2025 | Audience Award, Wide Angle | Won | ||
| Giffoni Film Festival | 2025 | Gryphon Award Best Film, GEX Doc | Won | ||
| Woodstock Film Festival | 2025 | Best Documentary Feature and NYWIFT Award for Excellence in Directing | Won | ||
| International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam | 2025 | NPO Doc IDFA Audience Award | Won | ||
| Cinema Eye Honors | 2026 | Audience Choice Prize | Nominated | [18] | |
| The Unforgettables | Sara Shahverdi | Won | |||
| Academy Awards | 2026 | Best Documentary Feature | Cutting Through Rocks | Nominated | [19] |
References
- Lang, Robert (January 27, 2025). "Sundance Film Festival Photos: 'Love, Brooklyn' & 'The Wedding Banquet' Premieres On Day 5". Deadline. Retrieved March 2, 2025.
- Holland, Jonathan. "'Cutting Through Rocks': Sundance Review". Screen. Retrieved March 2, 2025.
- Wissot, Lauren (January 29, 2025). "'Cutting Through Rocks' Review: A Sharp Documentary Profiles a Motorcycle-Loving Woman Who Takes on the Patriarchy in Rural Iran". IndieWire. Archived from the original on March 19, 2025. Retrieved March 2, 2025.
- Adlakha, Siddhant (January 29, 2025). "'Cutting Through Rocks' Review: An Iranian Woman Tries to Change Her Village in a Conflicted Documentary". Variety. Retrieved March 2, 2025.
- "Cutting Through Rocks (اوزاک یوللار) | Sundance Film Festival 2025". festivalplayer.sundance.org. Archived from the original on February 20, 2025. Retrieved May 11, 2025.
- "Cutting Through Rocks". DC/DOX. Archived from the original on May 12, 2025. Retrieved June 11, 2025.
- www.imdb.com https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10196414/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_cst_sm. Retrieved June 26, 2026.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - Carey, Matthew (October 16, 2025). "'Cutting Through Rocks' Trailer: In Oscar-Contending Doc, Maverick Woman Defies Convention In Story That "Resonates Universally"". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on October 17, 2025. Retrieved October 22, 2025.
- Linden, Sheri (November 20, 2025). "'Cutting Through Rocks' Review: The Only Way Out". The New York Times.
- "Cutting Through Rocks | Rotten Tomatoes". www.rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved June 7, 2026.
- Macnab, Geoffrey (September 10, 2024). "Autlook Filmsales appoints new CEO (exclusive)". Screen. Retrieved May 10, 2025.
- Barraclough, Leo (February 11, 2025). "Sundance Grand Jury Winner 'Cutting Through Rocks' Acquired by Autlook Ahead of Berlinale (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Archived from the original on March 19, 2025. Retrieved May 10, 2025.
- "The Complete List of 2025 Sundance Film Festival Award Winners | Sundance Film Festival". Sundance.org. January 31, 2025. Retrieved May 10, 2025.
- Pedersen, Lise (April 11, 2025). "Visions du Réel Crowns 'The Prince of Nanawa' as Grand Prix Winner, 'The Vanishing Point' Claims Burning Lights Award". Variety. Retrieved May 10, 2025.
- "Award Winners from the 26th Annual Woodstock Film Festival". Woodstock Film Festival. Retrieved December 19, 2025.
- "98TH OSCARS® SHORTLISTS IN 12 AWARD CATEGORIES ANNOUNCED". press.oscars.org. Archived from the original on January 16, 2026. Retrieved December 19, 2025.
- Thompson, Ben Travers,Anne (December 16, 2025). "The Best Documentaries of 2025". IndieWire. Retrieved December 31, 2025.
- Pedersen, Erik (November 13, 2025). "Cinema Eye Honors 2026 Nominations: 'Come See Me In The Good Light' Leads Field". Deadline. Archived from the original on November 13, 2025. Retrieved November 14, 2025.
- "The 98th Academy Awards | (2026)". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on February 8, 2026. Retrieved January 22, 2026.
External links
- 2025 films
- 2025 independent films
- Qatari documentary films
- Chilean documentary films
- Iranian documentary films
- Canadian documentary films
- Dutch documentary films
- German documentary films
- American documentary films
- 2025 documentary films
- 2025 Chilean films
- 2025 Canadian films
- 2025 German films
- 2025 American films
- Sundance Film Festival award–winning films
- 2025 Iranian films
- 2025 Dutch films
- 2025 Qatari films
- Documentary films about Iran
- Documentary films about women in politics
- Politics of Iran
- Documentary films about women in Iran
- Documentary films about politicians
- 2025 directorial debut films
‘Cutting Through Rocks’ Review: A Sharp Documentary Profiles a Motorcycle-Loving Woman Who Takes on the Patriarchy in Rural Iran
Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni’s precisely lensed film follows Sara Shahverdi, the first councilwoman in the history of her remote village.
By Lauren Wissot
November 19, 2025
'Cutting Through Rocks'
Sara Khaki
Editor’s Note: This review was originally published during the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. “Cutting Through Rocks” opens at Film Forum in New York City on Friday, November 21.
Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni’s precisely lensed “Cutting Through Rocks“ is a deftly shaped work of cinematic nonfiction that opens with a literal bang, as we cut from a black screen to a middle-aged, headscarf-clad woman wrestling with a metal door that’s become unhinged; eventually she decides to buzzsaw through the surrounding stone enclosure to make it fit back in. It’s an apt metaphor for the formidable Sara Shahverdi, a longtime divorcee in a deeply religious region of northwest Iran — a woman who’s spent most of her life flouting gender norms and giving the finger to convention. The former midwife is also a vocal advocate for the empowerment of women and girls, which includes access to education and an end to child marriage. And, of course, she’s also an advocate for the right to ride a motorcycle, her greatest passion of all.
But perhaps most surprising is that so much of Shahverdi’s family and community admire her, enough so that she running to become the first elected councilwoman in her remote village might not actually be so farfetched. Which is how, while researching female entrepreneurs in their native land, the film’s US-based co-directors first became aware of the strong-willed candidate, and decided to follow the rebel’s unusual grassroots campaign.
Inevitably, the team of married filmmakers got more than they bargained for, and ended up embedding with their heroine and her community off and on for seven years, starting with Shahverdi’s large clan. It’s at her mother’s house that we’re first introduced to her six sisters and three younger brothers (and their extended families), the latter of whom would go on to try to swindle the female siblings — though wisely, not Shahverdi — out of their long-deceased father’s inheritance. That inevitably leads to a showdown that causes such a ruckus that one brother simply hands over the deceptively signed document for Shahverdi to rip up. “Sara rebelled today and started a coup!,” a relieved sister jokingly exclaims.
And then it’s on to the intimate gatherings of supportive female constituents, which aren’t campaign stops so much as they are a wily excuse to spread the girl power word. Shahverdi cautions one rather awestruck crowd that she can’t upend the sclerotic system alone. “You all need to want change.” To another room she orders, “Show of hands, how many of you are truly happy?” After some nervous chuckling, the rousing speech continues. ”People say, ‘Sara, you are the exception. You are different from the rest of us.’ I am no different. If you fight for what you want, believe me, you’re all like me.” She adds that when men ask why she isn’t feminine she replies, “I’m comfortable the way I am.” The demurely covered ladies seem equal parts skeptical and amused.
As they should be. For what Shahverdi doesn’t quite seem to grasp is that they aren’t all just like her. Thrust into the role of breadwinner at 16 when her father passed away, she’d always been brought up to be the son her dad had yet to have. As the last in a long line of sisters, Shahverdi was taught not only to ride motorcycles and work construction — but, crucially, to ignore gender norms. Permitted to go where the boys went and to dress as she pleased, it’s no wonder Shahverdi “felt free.” It was circumstances beyond the nonconformist’s control that allowed her to be “comfortable” in her own skin. A believer might even say it was her “fate,” and Eyni and Khaki’s methodically controlled direction allows “Cutting Through Rocks” to sustain the momentum that some might interpret as predestination.
Shrewdly, however, Shahverdi also makes the rounds touting bread and butter issues like bringing fuel to the village, which is music to voters’ ears. As a former midwife, she’s likewise the only candidate running who’s literally delivered a generation of her constituency — 400 people, to be exact — who in turn rally to the cause, which leads to the unlikely groundbreaker being elected with the most votes. Though naturally the community she serves also includes those she did not bring into the world: the elderly men who’ve long held power and are loathe to relinquish it. And complicating matters further, one of her younger brothers has also been elected, and he’s not about to let his big sister emasculate him in public.
Nevertheless, Shahverdi views her election as a mandate and wastes no time shaking things up. She visits a classroom of young girls and makes them sign a pledge to continue their education. When the male council members refuse to give her the village seal — the only means to stamp official documents – she simply takes it. And swiftly uses it for the paperwork that will finalize a husband’s agreement to split ownership of his house with his wife (now a prerequisite for gas to flow to any residency). When a distraught teacher calls to ask the newly elected official to intervene in the upcoming marriage of a 16-year old girl (already in the process of getting a divorce) she not only meets with the parents, but ends up convincing them to let her take their daughter in.
But of course bold moves prompt fierce backlash – against not just Shahverdi but those who want to follow in her shoes. Or as the uncle of one of the motorcycle enthusiasts who Shahverdi is teaching puts it, “Give girls shoes, just not paths.” It’s one thing for a community to back a woman, another to allow for a feminist revolution. So by the time Shahverdi’s health begins to decline due to stress she’s faced with an existential threat, a challenge to her very identity. It’s quite a lot of drama for one individual to experience. Not to mention two filmmakers to fit on the big screen.
And yet Khaki and Eyni do. Through majestic overhead shots of Shahverdi (and her young girl gang) speeding through the mountain-cradled landscape, alternated with intimate closeups (Shahverdi’s expressive face sometimes speaks louder than her words), we’re brought closer to a world both foreign and undoubtedly familiar. The result of an East-meets-West gaze (the fast-paced editing and Euro-tinged score emphasize the latter) that hits all the right (i.e., liberal) feminist beats. Which actually makes smart sense if the goal is to connect us to a plight halfway across the globe. And besides, as Shahverdi herself concludes after ultimately eschewing sweeping gestures, sometimes “a small step is enough.”
Grade: B
“Cutting Through Rocks” premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. It opens Friday, November 21 at Film Forum in New York City.
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