Tehran – “Cutting Through Rock,” an Iranian documentary by Mohamadreza Eini and Sarah Khaki, won the award at the 55th edition of the Gifoni Film Festival (GFF), held in Salerno, Italy from July 17th to 26th.
Competing in the GEX Doc documentary section, the film won the Griffon Award. He was the only winner of the three Iranian films shown at the festival, Isna reported.
The documentary tells the story of Sarah Sherverdi, the first elected council member of her village. He aims to break the long-standing patriarchy by training teenage girls and halting child marriages on motorcycles. When the accusations arise, her identity falls into confusion when she questioned Sara’s intention to empower the girl.
The 95-minute film, co-produced by Iran, Germany, the US, Qatar, the Netherlands, Chile and Canada, won the World Film Documentary Grand Jue Award at the Sundance Film Festival’s World Film Documentary Competition earlier this year.
In “Cutting Through the Rocks,” Sarah Khaki and Mohamadreza Eini offer deep, intimate, quietly rebellious portraits of resistance and resilience. Their debut feature documentary follows Sarah Sharverdi, the first elected councillor in a rural village in Iran.
At the heart of the film is Sherverdi himself. He is an incredible pioneer who drives cars through dusty village roads, teaches teenage girls how to ride a motorbike, and teaches a campaign against the still average practice of child marriage. The handheld, unrespectful camera stays close to her and does not interfere, but always brings attention to the emotional and political weight of her daily struggles. This raw, observational approach gives the film a quiet force and cumulative tension.
Sarah’s charisma and pure willpower drive the story forward. As she inspires girls to stay in school, dreams of a medical, educational, or engineering career, and control their lives, her vision becomes a faint sloppy of hope in an otherwise suffocating social landscape. But her journey is not smooth. She surrounds her with doubt and resentment. Sarah’s own identity is scrutinized and ultimately attacked as the suspicion questions her intentions with the young girl.
Scores are used sparingly and with subtlety, reinforcing the emotional arc rather than overwhelmed. The filming is rough and organic, resisting glorification, reflecting the rawness of the terrain and the social tensions that run through it. Climbing through the rocks begins with a quiet observation, but becomes an emotional crescendo, leading to a series of painful defeats and existential questions.
The film doesn’t offer closure or simple hope, and there’s that integrity there. This is not a story of victory change, but one of the necessary resistances in the face of insurmountable odds.
Ultimately, the documentary stands as both a testament to individual courage and a calm wake-up call.
The 55th Gifoni Film Festival was the last under the guidance of founder Claudio Guitosi. Involving more than 5,000 young jurisdictions from 30 countries, the event once again confirmed itself as one of the most important international gatherings dedicated to a new generation of cinemas.
Selected from over 2,500 titles from every corner of the glove, the winning film reflects the central theme of this year’s festival: identity, inclusion, memory and freedom of expression. Between fiction and documentaries, feature films and shorts, he frequently tackles troubling topics with reflection and self-examination of language and inspiration adapted to younger audiences.
The Giffoni Film Festival was born in 1971 from the idea of Claudio Gubitosi. It is a high-quality genre that can promote and develop cinemas for young people, raise them from their limiting positions at the time, guide them to where they belong, and “penetrate” the market.
SS/SAB