The award-winning documentary Cutting Through Rocks, which follows the first Iranian woman ever elected to her local council, will be screened Thursday, April 23, at 7 p.m., at the Strand Theatre, as part of the Points North Presents.

Set in a remote Iranian village, this documentary from filmmakers Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni is about Sara Shahverdi, a defiant, motorcycle-riding former midwife with other aspirations. Filmed over seven years, the film captures her high-stakes battle against entrenched patriarchal traditions as she fights to end child marriage and empower a new generation of girls. As the village’s male “old guard” orchestrates a smear campaign to silence her, Sara must defend her reputation and her mission in a biased legal system.

"It is a gritty, humorous, and deeply intimate portrait of a modern revolutionary chipping away at the status quo," said a Strand Theatre news release. 

The screening will be followed by a moderated discussion. 

Cutting Through Rocks won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at this year’s Academy Awards. 

Points North Presents is a new monthly screening series that extends the spirit of the Camden International Film Festival throughout the year. In collaboration with the Strand Theatre, the series will bring some of the world’s most exciting and thought-provoking documentary films and filmmakers to the Midcoast Maine community, according to the news release.                                                     

Tickets for this screening are $12/Adults, $10/Strand Members, Seniors, and Students, and are available in advance at the Strand Theatre website, or at the door. More information is available at RocklandStrand.com or by calling 594-0070.

The Strand Theatre is located at 345 Main Street, Rockland.