Mozena, two ex-US ambassadors attend Washington premiere of documentary film on 'Nakshi Kantha’

A documentary film on Bengal’s pride, centuries-old embroidered quilt ‘Nakshi Kantha’ has been premiered in Washington in the presence of three former US ambassadors in Bangladesh.

The 30-min film “Threads” tells the story of Surayia Rahman, who with her indomitable spirit and dream revived Nakshi Kantha and brought it to fame, thereby empowering distressed women economically and socially.
 
Most of these women lost their husbands during Bangladesh’s war of independence in 1971.
 
Former ambassador Dan Mozena, who travelled all 64 districts and said he would tell his country the “incredible positive” stories of Bangladesh before leaving Dhaka last year, was present.

Willard DePree and William Milam are the other two former ambassadors who joined Bangladesh Ambassador to the US Muhammad Ziauddin at the premiere at George Washington University Museum on Thursday afternoon, the embassy said.

Producer Cathy Stevulak and her husband Co-Producer Leonard Hill, who had been in Dhaka from 2001 to 2003, said they made the film for “many reasons”.
 
This was “to raise awareness of the work of artist Surayia Rahman and the women with whom she worked and to preserve the stories and culture of this art form”.
 
They also wanted to show an example of women's empowerment in Bangladesh and to draw attention to artisan enterprise, which employs millions of people in the developing world.
 
They dedicated the film to the memory of Tareque Masud, Mishuk Munier and Ses Purvis, all of whom died before it was completed.
 
Ses was the wife of a former USAID mission director and was a close friend of Surayia Rahman.
 
The film took five years to make.