International Documentary Film Festival
April 19 to 26, 2026
Kaptol Boutique Cinema, Zagreb

Cutting Through Rocks (اوزاک یوللار, )

Sara Khaki, Mohammadreza Eyni

Cutting Through Rocks

Sara Shahverdi – a divorced, motorcycle-riding former midwife – is an unlikely leader in her conservative northwestern Iranian village. As the first woman ever elected to the local council, she’s determined to break the cycle of empty promises and complacency passed down by the men who came before her. Fierce and unapologetic, Sara pushes for bold reforms, fighting her most difficult battles on behalf of the village’s girls and women. From teaching teenage girls to ride motorcycles to challenging child marriage to advocating for female land ownership, she openly defies patriarchal norms. But when her efforts spark backlash and accusations about her motives, Sara must confront not only her critics, but also her own sense of identity.

Iran, the Netherlands, USA, Germany, Qatar, Chile, Canada 2025, '95

DIRECTOR: Sara Khaki, Mohammadreza Eyni

CAMERA: Mohammadreza Eyni

MONTAGE: Sara Khaki, Mohammadreza Eyni

MUSIC: Karim Sebastian Elias

PRODUCERS: Mohammadreza Eyni, Sara Khaki

PRODUCTION: Gandom Films Production LLC

FESTIVALS & AWARDS:

Sundance FF (2025 ): Grand Jury Award for World Cinema Documentary
New Zealand FF (2025): Best Documentary; Audience Award
Giffoni FF (2025): Best Documentary Award
MDoc FF (2025): Best Documentary Award
Visions Du Réel (2025): Audience Award
Woodstock FF (2025): Best Feature Documentary; Best Documentary Directing
Warsaw FF (2025): The NETPAC Award
Festival des Libertés (2025): Grand Jury Award of the Festival

Sara Khaki

Sara Khaki

Sara Khaki is a documentary director, producer and editor dedicated to telling stories that promote gender equity. She is a Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Award winner (World Cinema Documentary) and Visions Du Reél Audience Award winner for her feature documentary Cutting Through Rocks, which follows the first elected councilwoman of a rural Iranian village. The film has been called “a deftly shaped work of cinematic nonfiction” by IndieWire and “one of those profound vérité documentaries that are only possible through the patience and perseverance of the filmmakers” by POV Magazine. Sara’s short film Our Iranian Lockdown (2020) is now streaming on The Guardian and received an IDA Awards nomination. Her co-directed Netflix Original Convergence: Courage in a Crisis (2021) was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Current Affairs Film. Sara graduated from the University of Maryland with a BFA in cinematic arts and from New York’s School of Visual  Arts with an MFA in social documentary filmmaking. A grantee of the Sundance Film Institute, Chicken & Egg Films and Firelight Media, her work continues to amplify change on gender equity through the cinéma vérité form.

Mohammadreza Eyni

Mohammadreza Eyni

Mohammadreza Eyni is a director, producer and cinematographer whose career and cinematic approach aims to bridge boundaries, elevate underrepresented voices and connect diverse perspectives globally. He is a 2025 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Award winner in the World Cinema Documentary competition for his feature documentary Cutting Through Rocks, which has become an audience favorite at Sydney, Hot Docs and the Visions Du Reél film festivals, among others. His cinematic approach has been heralded as “uniquely propulsive”and “practically magical” (Variety) and “precisely lensed” (IndieWire) as well as “delivering simple moments into cinematic poetry” (Hammer to Nail). He was named by Pure Nonfiction as one of the top five cinematographers to watch at Sundance in 2025. Mohammadreza’s intimate short film Our Iranian Lockdown, streaming on The Guardian, received an IDA Awards nomination. His co-directed Netflix Original Convergence: Courage in a Crisis was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Current Affairs Film. Mohammadreza has been supported by Sundance Institute, IDFA Bertha Foundation and Hot Docs Cross Current Doc Fund, among others. He is a Tribeca Film Institute alumnus and graduated with an MFA in cinema from Tehran University of Fine Arts.

With support

Partners

Media sponsors

Sponsors

Special thanks