In the documentary Cutting Through Rocks, directors Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni profile Sara Shahverdi, the first elected female member of council in a small Iranian village. For the men, Shahverdi represents everything dangerous about Western-influenced progress; for the women, and especially the young girls, she is a role model for change. Khaki and Eyni are granted intimate access to both Shahverdi’s life and that of her constituents. The film begins with Shahverdi’s electoral campaign, in which scores of women (and some young men) decide to go to the polls for the first time, for her. She is warned not to run by some conservative members of the community, but for the most part her very identity is, ironically, a shield; dismissed as a quirky neighbor who doesn’t know how to mind her own business, Shahverdi cruises to victory. Through her campaign, Khaki and Eyni deliver the reminder that, sometimes all it takes to engender political power is the desire to earnestly speak for those you represent. But, once in power, she finds it quite difficult to push forward her progressive agenda…-Screen Rant