Iran’s Motorcycling Midwife: The Star of the Oscar-Tipped Cutting Through Rocks

In the patriarchal heart of rural northwest Iran, Sara Shahverdi emerges as a defiant force—a divorced midwife, avid motorcyclist, and the first woman ever elected to her village’s city council. Captured in the vérité documentary Cutting Through Rocks, directed by Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni, her eight-year journey challenges deep-seated traditions, earning the film a Best Documentary Feature Oscar nomination and the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance 2025.[1][2][3][4]

Shahverdi’s story unfolds like an Old West tale, with her roaring across dusty terrains on her father’s motorcycle, embodying freedom in a region where women are often destined for early marriage and dependence.[2] At 37 during filming (now around 43-45), this childless divorcee flouts gender norms daily. As a midwife who delivered 400 babies, she knows her village’s intimate struggles intimately—one of nine children herself, she’s woven into its fabric yet stands as a “radical lone voice” for change.[1][2]

Breaking Barriers on Two Wheels

Motorcycles aren’t just transport for Shahverdi; they’re rebellion. In a conservative Azeri Turkish-speaking area, her passion symbolizes autonomy. “She’s unlike anyone else in her family or village,” filmmakers note, capturing her in custom clothes, speeding into the distance amid puzzled stares.[2][4] She advocates fiercely for girls on bikes, education over matrimony, and home co-ownership—ideas that “cut through rocks” of entrenched patriarchy.[1]

The film, shot over seven to eight years, tracks her 2010s-era council campaign and victory—a historic first for northwest Iran.[1][3][4] Directors Khaki (Iranian, then in New York) and Eyni (local to the region) stumbled upon her story when she announced her run. Speaking Turkish Azeri broke barriers; Sara welcomed them into her home, family, and fights.[2] Their cinéma vérité style reveals raw highs—like her election triumph—and lows, including rage against family and community injustices, and men challenging her seat.[2][3]

A Fight Against Child Marriage and Tradition

Shahverdi’s platform targets economic systems trapping girls in dependence. She pushes to end child marriage, promote schooling, and empower women economically—efforts met with resistance from villagers, family, and Tehran’s regime.[1][3] “The men are slow to adopt her vision,” one review notes, while surreal authoritarian twists heighten the stakes.[3]

Yet her will prevails. The film shows her arguing fearlessly with dismissive men, boiling over at wrongs, but persisting as a “woman of action.”[2] By the end, young girls ride motorcycles, signaling ripples: more women now run for council, crediting her wall-breaking win.[2] Villagers, even opponents, gained respect after seeing trailers and news, urging her return—though she smiles, mission accomplished.[2]

Filmmakers’ Emotional Odyssey

Khaki and Eyni, a husband-wife team, faced monumental editing from years of footage, revealing Iran’s underrepresented rural side.[2] Funded by social justice grants, the Iran/Netherlands/USA/Germany/Qatar/Chile/Canada co-production speaks Azeri Turkish and Farsi with subtitles.[1][4] Sundance acclaim led to Oscar buzz, but joy mixed with sorrow amid Iran’s chaos—internet shutdowns delayed news to Sara via landlines.[2]

Audiences, especially Iranians, leave theaters hopeful. “When they see Sara on a big screen… they say that we see ourselves,” directors share. Her resilience inspires amid protests, evoking Abbas Kiarostami’s poetic touch in exquisitely beautiful frames of quiet village life.[2][3]

Critical Acclaim and Global Resonance

Praise pours in. IndieWire calls her “formidable,” giving “the finger to convention.”[1] Reverse Shot hails her “outspoken and determined spirit.”[2] Nashville Scene’s reviewer teared up repeatedly, voting Shahverdi for Oscar glory despite limited theatrical runs.[3] Ms. magazine dubs it a “dynamic slice-of-life portrait”; Screen International predicts it “cuts through.”[4]

Film Forum screened it through December 11 (2025), with VIFF highlighting her as “midwife by trade, motorcyclist by rebellion, politician by defiance.”[1][4] Not streaming widely yet, it demands screens for its reckoning with tradition-transformation clashes.[3][4]

Shahverdi’s not a martyr but a everyday resistor, her daily acts sparking fire amid doubt.[4] In a world of hardening patriotisms elsewhere, her story bends history locally—proof one woman on a bike can reform a village.[3] As Oscar night nears, Cutting Through Rocks positions her as cinema’s unlikely hero, her engine’s roar echoing calls for women’s freedoms worldwide.

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Original source: BBC News – World – Iran’s motorcycling midwife and rights campaigner is star of Oscar-tipped film