Sundance 2025 Review: Cutting Through Rocks – “Compelling.”

Sara Shahverdi appears in Cutting Through Rocks (اوزاک یوللار) by Sara Khaki and Mohammad Reza Eyni, an official selection of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Sara Khaki.
Directors Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni spent seven years making their documentary Cutting Through Rocks (اوزاک یوللار). As a male/female duo the filmmakers were able to get access to all aspects of this beautiful northwestern region of Iran that subject Sara Shahverdi calls home, where gender and patriarchal traditions are solidly in place.
When we meet Sara she is attempting to hang a metal gate and we immediately observe her determination. Failure is not an option for her. This resolve and perseverance is part of who she is, and part of why she becomes the first woman amongst the 300 villages in the region, to be elected to council. Campaigning successfully, mostly to women and the younger generation, Sara is an unconventional choice when typically the male elders are given governing roles. But, there’s nothing about Sara that is conventional, and she wants to change how women are seen.
In a family with six sisters and three younger brothers, Sara’s father, who passed away when she was 16 was hoping for a boy when she arrived. As such, he raised her differently, taking her to places where only men were typically able to go. He allowed her to choose her own clothes, taught her how to do construction tasks and how to ride a motorcycle, something she still rides to this day. Divorced, previously working as a midwife, she now lives alone and sees opportunity to facilitate change in her community. Especially when it comes to the treatment of women.
“I doubt your ability to accomplish anything,” says one man to her during her campaign for council. But once elected she manages to cut through red tape and despite people’s doubts, she finds ways to accomplish a lot for her town. She gets the ball rolling on a new park in the village. She gets gas lines installed which had been an empty promise of past councils (she also uses this as a way for some women to get on the deed of their homes, an important way to assure inheritance should their husband pass). And most importantly she tries to impart some semblance of choice to women, many of whom are married off as young girls, forced to leave school by their families.
Sara is a one-woman power house, who tries to do it all. But as she tells one young woman in the film, ‘being unconventional has consequences.’ and this is true also for her. Eventually, complaints are brought against her and she becomes victim of a patriarchal court system that brings her gender identity into question. She’s told she has to be considerate of rules and traditions as a woman. Her many joys and successes also come with heartache.
Cutting Through Rocks (اوزاک یوللار) was awarded the Sundance World Cinema Jury Prize for documentary and it is easy to see why. This type of vérité filmmaking is compelling when done right. The filmmakers’ depiction of Sara and the community she serves is done with respect, yet with the knowledge that alterations to the system are needed and wanted by many of the women residents. But as Sara learns, change demands patience. While she can’t impart all the changes she wants during her council appointment, she does impart wisdom, and for some girls independence, choice, and even motorcycle riding. Thanks to her, the next generation is getting the building blocks they can use in order to continue to transform their future.
Cutting Through Rocks (اوزاک یوللار) premiered January 27, 2025 at the Sundance Film Festival. For more information, you can go to Sundance.org