LEAWOOD, Kan. — Church of the Resurrection's Leawood Campus had a documentary made about its iconic stained glass window and it's showing at AMC Ward Parkway on Wednesday night.
"I never thought I would make a movie about a stained glass window," Justin Monroe, Director of "HOLY FRIT" said.
But, it's not an average stained glass window. Its the size of an NBA court.
It was no easy task to find someone to design and build the masterpiece.
Enter, artist Tim Carey.
"I didn't know how big it was in terms of what it was going to do to my life and how it was going to challenge artistic sense of abilities and push the medium in a place...to a place it hadn't been pushed before," Carey said.
His next door neighbor just happened to be Monroe, who is a film maker, and once he found out about the artist's new job, he knew it was a story.
"As neighbors do, we had a few beers and he began to tell me about this crazy project that his company was pitching for," Monroe said.
The film, "HOLY FRIT" follows the years it took to design, build and install the window, which costs millions of dollars, and chronicles the project's many ups and downs.
The construction of the church campus and the sanctuary was a $90 million dollar project, the window costing a few million itself.
The window is made of 161 panels and took two years to make.
Judson Studios, who took on the big painting in the sky as they called it, took a risk taking the project. They had to buy new equipment and got a second studio to make sure they made their deadline.
The film follows their every move, including having to bring in the Steven Spielberg of stained glass window making, Narcissus Quagliata.
The church has shown the movie a few times in their sanctuary, but Wednesday will be the first time it is shown for the public.
"I am shocked with the way the story came together. When he came to us originally, I thought there is just no way it's going to make for a compelling film. It is a very compelling documentary," Dan Entwistle, Senior Executive Director at Church of the Resurrection said.
The film maker and the artist want people to know it isn't a religious film.
"To me I love tension. I love characters challenging each other and I think people should come to see this because it's a beautiful tension of the reverent and, irreverent. People that bit of more than they could chew, a race against time," Monroe said.
Monroe and Carey both hope movie goers leave with an appreciation of the art of stained glass windows.
"They think one thing and they come out with such a different energy," Carey said.
You can see the film at 7 p.m. at the AMC on Ward Parkway. Visit the Kansas City FilmFest website for tickets.
