WWU to host Screening and and Q&A with Filmmakers of THREADS Documentary May 10

Western Washington University’s Karen W. Morse Institute for Leadership will host a reception and screening of the award-winning documentary film, THREADS, followed by a Q&A with filmmakers Cathy Stevulak and Leonard Hill at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, May 10, in Academic West 210.

The event is free and open to the public, and light refreshments will be served.

THREADS is a documentary about Surayia Rahman, a Bangladeshi Muslim woman who overcomes physical, social, and economic hardships and liberates herself and hundreds of other women by creating timeless works of art. With courage, tolerance, thread and needle, Surayia Rahman shared her skills with destitute young women, stirring social change, empowering lives and bringing traditional kantha quilting to an art form. Her advocacy, spirit, courage, and determination make her an extraordinary leader and her capacity for facing adversity make her an inspiration to others.

Director/producer 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 there, 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. Stevulak was inspired by the impact Rahman has had on many women’s lives and knew her story had to be told. THREADS is her debut as a documentary filmmaker.

Producer Leonard Hill was a U.S. diplomat posted to Bangladesh when he first met Rahman and became fascinated by her art. He has worked with Stevulak to assemble a multinational team of award-winning filmmakers who are excited by the stories of Rahman and the women she worked with and by the prospect of telling their stories to the world.

For more information on this event, contact Western’s Karen W. Morse Institute for Leadership at (360) 650-4000 or morse.institute@wwu.edu.