Director: Cathy Stevulak Producers: Leonard Hill, Cathy Stevulak, Catherine Masud
Description:
When
her husband becomes bedridden, one of Bangladesh’s first women
artists decides to earn a living by teaching destitute women to
embroider her designs. She never expects that the intricate
storytelling art they create would become the prized possessions of
art connoisseurs around the world. Threads tells the story of
Surayia Rahman, a pioneering wife and mother who transforms a
centuries-old Bengali quilting tradition into a timeless art form.
Over three decades, Surayia quietly lifts herself and hundreds of
other women out of economic and social hardship. Threads takes
us on an intimate journey into the heart of an artist and illuminates
an unconventional path to dignity and independence. Threads brings together for the first time a collection of Surayia's life's
work, sourced from around the world.
Biography: Cathy
Stevulak is a Canadian filmmaker, born in a small coal-mining
town in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Ten years ago, while
living in Bangladesh and working as a senior adviser with United
Nations Development Programme in Bangladesh, she met many women who
were quietly revolutionizing their own lives through art and craft,
looking to their own culture and resources to do so. Their resilience
reminds her of the struggles in the stories of her ancestors, their
inspiration a glow that needs to be shared. Cathy worked across
Canada and internationally as a public affairs and international
development consultant. Threads is her debut as a documentary
director.
