In January 2020, the RCMP killed homelessness activist Barry Shantz at his home in Lytton, B.C.
Barry was having a mental health crisis. His family had called 911 for help. What arrived was an army of police officers, including snipers – but not a single mental health worker.
In response to this tragedy, Barry’s sister Marilyn began to create a series of evocative, sometimes jarring quilts. She calls the series Kairos – a Greek word which means “an opportune time for action.” Marilyn began her quilts to help process her grief and in the hope they would spark conversations about mental health and motivate change in policing.
A Bullet Pulling Thread follows Marilyn’s journey through grief while telling the story of her brother’s life. The documentary, directed by Ian Daffern, also captures her determination to display her work from coast to coast – and how she met resistance from galleries and police forces.
While pursuing her artistic mission, Marilyn also tries to discover why police replied to her brother’s cry for help with fatal force.
The screening of A Bullet Pulling Thread is part of the Human Rights Through Film series, a partnership between the Canadian Museum for Human Rights and Dave Barber Cinematheque. The series features stories that put faces to human rights issues and highlight our shared humanity.
