Filmmakers Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni discuss their 8-year journey making the feature documentary Cutting Through Rocks, which has earned them their first Oscar nominations. The New York-based directors returned to their native Iran to tell the story of a remarkable woman in a rural northwestern part of the country who defied the intensely patriarchal culture to run for a seat on the local council. Cutting Through Rocks, winner of the Grand Jury Prize for World Cinema Documentary at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, is the only Oscar nominee for Best Feature Documentary still without U.S. distribution, making its success all the more impressive. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices