In 2019, actor and knitter Kirk Dunn unveiled his magnificent religious tapestries – and told the story of his 15-year journey to knit them – in his multidisciplinary solo show, The Knitting Pilgrim. Since it premiered at the Aga Khan Museum in May of that year, the show has won great acclaim. While selling out houses across Ontario, it has provoked thoughtful conversation about the interconnection of Christianity, Judaism and Islam. The show’s message of peace and harmony – brought to life in those showstopping tapestries – resonates deeply with audiences long after the house lights come on.
Fast forward one pandemic, and the show is poised to gain an even wider audience, thanks to the new documentary short film Stitched Glass. Through interviews with show co-writers Dunn and his wife Claire, plus his minister father and director Jennifer Tarver, the 22-minute film depicts the creation of The Knitting Pilgrim in its creator’s confrontation with spiritual ideologies. Stitched Glass is co-written and co-directed by Toronto-based filmmakers Ian Daffern and Omar Majeed, and it makes its world premiere at the International Festival of Films on Art (LeFifa) in Montreal March 16 – 28, 2021. People across Canada can also view it online, as part of a festival pass. The uplifting film builds on The Knitting Pilgrim’s compelling vision of what harmony can look like, and reinforces how even complex concepts can start with a single stitch.
Daffern first heard about The Knitting Pilgrim through a friend who belongs to the Toronto Knitters Guild, where Dunn did a presentation about his tapestries when they were nearing completion. Daffern met Dunn and his wife Claire Dunn in the fall of 2018 at The Parliament of World Religions, where the co-directors did an initial shoot. Daffern saw immediately that Dunn and his project might make a good subject for a documentary. And when he heard that Dunn’s fifteen-year journey was nearing completion, he sensed a quest that could supply the movie’s narrative structure. But when he saw the tapestries themselves in photographs on Dunn’s website – and was struck dumb by their colour, complexity and sheer scale – Daffern knew that “not only was there a great narrative there, but the artwork itself was monumental, as well”.
He discussed collaborating on the project with Majeed over a coffee one evening. Majeed was immediately drawn in by the idea of “exploring such heavy themes of identity, spirituality, and religious conflict through knitting, something that is usually thought of as a homespun craft you encounter at the local fair, or at best a ‘folk art’ curio – not a medium to tackle such weighty topics”. Majeed was equally intrigued by Dunn’s personal story as a descendant of three generations of Presbyterian ministers who was trying to find his own voice within that legacy. Given Majeed’s Muslim background, Dunn’s desire to expand his message across the three major Abrahamic faiths made his story even more irresistible.
Having previously made a movie about rebel Muslim Punk rockers, Majeed finds himself naturally drawn to these “strange, contradictory hybrid identities”. And he has always valued the “struggle of an artist who takes the path of asking difficult questions we typically steer clear of. Kirk’s work raises a lot of points about who gets to ask these kinds of questions and how best we can all approach controversial subjects in our divided times.” After meeting Dunn, he was struck by his humility and earnestness, which made him seem “kind of like a real ‘knitting pilgrim”. At this point, Majeed was “all in”.
The film’s creation had an organic quality because Daffern and Majeed have known each other since their early days in the broadcast industry. They worked at the Chum / City building on Queen Street, so they already had an easy creative rapport. Daffern explains that “when directing together, we found our approach grew out of conversations that just naturally lent themselves to how to film Kirk and Claire, and everyone else in the film, in an unobtrusive way”. During the editing, they worked on scenes separately, then shared them – with pleasing and well-aligned results. Daffern offers that “I think we were both interested in letting the film find itself. It’s fun to let the creative process be a conversation; and when we were both satisfied by something, we knew it was good.”
Despite the directors’ initial hopes, the film fell into the micro-budget range. Between the start of the pandemic and the balancing of work and family life, funding was scarce, and it was necessary to stop and start work on the film several times.“Stitched Glass was a labour of love, which for each of us was produced in and around full-time jobs and parenting, so it was slow going for a while,” admits Daffern. The advent of COVID-19 meant that pursuing anything other than the day-to-day was a special challenge. “Thankfully, Ian has a gift for asking people for help in such a way that they go above and beyond, and come to our rescue,” Majeed notes. “So we managed to make our micro-budget short doc get lots of love from very talented industry professionals – from musicians and cinematographers through to the fine folks at TA2 who did the sound mixing for us.”
Daffern adds his own words of appreciation for the “support and good graces of talented cinematographers, sound people, editors and musicians, all who were able to bring their creativity to helping us tell Kirk’s story.” It truly takes a village, so as soon as Duffern notes that “we’re really proud of the film”, he underlines how “it just simply wouldn’t be what it was without the help of all other artists who contributed to it – not to mention Kirk and Claire for being such open and gracious subjects, and bringing the tapestries to life in the first place.”
Fortuitously, the micro budget range gave them the freedom to shoot as much material as they wanted – even when it felt like nothing much was happening. But the sheer volume of film footage did magnify the challenge of editing it into a film. So last fall, Majeed suggested bringing in Jay Wolting to be an additional editor. “Jay really showed us that a real movie was in all that footage we assembled all along. After his pass, we were able to pick the film back up and get it completed,” says Daffern. Like every documentary film maker ever, the two found themselves always wanting more time, money and access. “But making docs is all about letting go and giving in to the mysterious process,” notes Majeed. “I think one of the things I’m most proud of with this film is how we were able to distill all we shot into 22 minutes.” In fact, the footage yielded some genuinely climactic moments. Without spoiling it, Daffern alludes to capturing “a harrowing moment for Kirk and Claire” concerning Dunn’s tapestries that “came out of nowhere”: “As filmmakers, it gave us a moment of grace that we could not have anticipated.”
Now that Stitched Glass is out, Daffern hopes it will inspire viewers. “Kirk was a knitter who was shocked at how religious differences were dividing people. So he literally made something with his own two hands to try and ‘knit’ people back together. That’s incredible to me”, Daffern affirms. In a similar way, he hopes that Stitched Glass will inspire people – irrespective of whether they are religious – to use what they have to make the world a better place. He also hopes that people will talk about their experiences with people of other faiths, and have those conversations without fear.
“Kirk is such an interesting figure for our times,” Majeed observes. “So much of what deepens our divides is the perpetual anxiety felt by dominant cultures too afraid to say anything out of fear of offending non-dominant cultures.” As a racialized person, Majeed doubts that fear was ever the point of non-dominant groups trying to speak out about what they find problematic in the culture, but he understands the anxiety such talk can produce. But “Kirk, in his dedication and his humility, shows us that you can face down those fears if you start a dialogue, so long as you do so in a thoughtful and genuinely-interested way.”
For up-to-date information about the documentary, follow Stitched Glass on Facebook.
© Arpita Ghosal, SesayArts Magazine, 2021
