Sara Shahverdi

“I don’t want to just promise things, I want to take action.” This statement is indicative of Sara Shahverdi’s passion. She is the central subject of Cutting Through Rocks, the feature documentary from co-directors Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni. Shahverdi, a plain speaking, divorced, motorcycling former midwife, is the first elected councilwoman representing her Iranian village, and she is not in any way the norm. The directors filmed her over seven years, compiling a mountain of footage, and have somehow rather miraculously distilled her experience in those years into 95 minutes.