Tehran – The documentary “Cutting Through Rocks” by Iranian filmmakers Sarah Khaki and Mohammadreza Eini will be held from September 11th to 17th in Giongi, South Korea, which will serve South Korean and Iranian film critics, screenwriters and editors, Puia Ageraiser Will Ageraiser Will Ageraiser Day, from September 11th to 17th.
“Cutting the Rock” will premiere in Asia in the international competition section of the festival, with Agelizadeh being held to the ju judges for the Fipreshusi Prize, Mehr reported.
The film follows Sarah Sharverdi, the first woman to be elected to the Iranian countryside village council. She faces intense community resistance as she teaches teenage girls to ride motorcycles and ride a campaign against child marriage. Passing through bureaucracy, landscape and cultural friction, Sarah’s journey unfolds with warmth, humor and keen political instincts. This instinct leads to the concrete practice of creating space for women, showing how quiet courage in one individual causes collective transformation.
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. He also won the Griffon Award in the GEX Doc documentary section of the 55th edition of the Giffon Film Festival in Italy last month.
In “Cutting Through the Rocks,” Khaki and Aini offer a deep, quietly rebellious portrait of resistance and resilience. At the heart of the film is Sharverdi himself, the first elected councillor in a rural village in Iran. She is trying to dismantle deep-rooted patriarchal structures and allow young women to imagine a future of freedom, education and autonomy.
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.
Ultimately, the documentary stands as both a testament to individual courage and a calm wake-up call.
Pouya Aghelizadeh holds a Masters degree in dramatic literature. He is one of six members of the Iranians of Fiplesh.
In Iran, he was an active film session holder and festival director for over a decade. He is also a film teacher and holds workshops on “the theory of acting in cinemas” and “the art of editing” around the world.
His film analytics article focuses on Lacan’s theory of “gaze” in modern films and films. This includes articles on great filmmakers such as Bergmann, Buñuel, Antonioni, Tarkovsky and Andrei Zvagintsev.
Aghelizadeh has been a critic at international festivals such as the Busan International Film Festival, Berlinale and Helsinki. He also served as a consultant for many documentary films on prominent characters in Iranian history and several English documentaries.
DMZ International Documentary Film Festival, also known as DMZ Docs, is a Korean film festival for documentary films.
It was released in 2009 and is held every seven days in September/October. It is less than 20km from the South Korean Unarmed Zone (DMZ) that divides the two South Koreas, and presents a film that deals with global issues such as war, climate change, migration, gender, human rights, coexistence and reconnaissance, and peace.
“Through the festival, we have deliberated ways to overcome the problems of violence and hatred that the world’s society has yet to resolve,” festival director Jang Hae Lang said at a press conference in Seoul on Tuesday.
Chang said the theme of this year’s festival is “the day we want to live.” Under this slogan, 143 carefully selected films from 50 countries will be screened, cementing their status as Asia’s leading international documentary film festival.
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