Filmed over years, Sara Khaki and Mohammad Reza Eyni’s Cutting Through Rocks hones in on the life and activism of Sara Shahverdi, an Iranian ex-midwife who, in the opening minutes, has just learned she’s been elected the first female councilwoman in her small village. It’s a moment of elation; young girls throughout the village are enamored of her, with her penchant for motorcycle joyriding and her refusal to wear more restrictive clothing typical of devout Muslim women. But Khaki and Eyni waste no time setting forth the gargantuan challenges she faces enacting change amidst a deeply patriarchal society filled with laziness and gridlock. They take a wistful, verite approach to the material, and wisely so, since it allows us to sit there with Shahverdi as she endures one indignity after another. But what enlivens about Cutting Through Rocks is Shahverdi’s irrepressible tenacity; no matter what life or the men in her village throw at her, she remains steadfast. Cutting Through Rocks demonstrates the resilience these women have in trying to change a culture so allergic to their agency.