Cutting Through Rocks - 1 Nomination

 

• Best Documentary Feature: Sara Khaki,Mohammadreza Eyni

This film was completely unexpected. Sara Shahverdi is a different kind of woman living in a small town in Iran with a big family and an incredible work ethic. She runs for city council and not only does she win (the only woman in the entire list of 200 council members across all of Iran), she gets the highest number of votes, which also entitles her to the community’s stamp. She spends her days helping people, stamping legal documents, managing construction, riding her motorcycle and busting gender roles. This is not always welcome in her community, but her strong will and her ability to win people over are incredibly inspiring. Her personal crusade is not only to make people’s lives better, but specifically to help girls be safe, be educated, and to do more with their lives than they ever thought they could (and certainly more than getting married at age 10, 12, 15). What a warrior. But not everyone is on board with her ideas, and suddenly the state accuses her of having too much masculine energy and puts her under review, whose final outcome could be forced gender reassignment surgery. But don’t worry, Sara would never go down without a fight.

While I have never assumed that things in Iran were great for women, this film gives a deep dive into what communal attitudes are, and what it’s like when women have essentially no say in their own lives. Hardly shocking but certainly tragic, and one wonders how much farther that society would advance if they didn’t disempower literally half of their brain trust. What a fantastic documentary well worthy of your time.