Christian Pilgrimage Film Explores Art, Faith, and History
- ahirou
- 4 days ago
- 4 min read
Dwight Widaman
Kansas City Metro Voice
September 4, 2025
Kansas City is about to host an experience that’s part epic journey, part heartfelt confession, and part invitation to look again at what’s beautiful and true in the world. For one night only—September 14th, 2025, at the Nelson-Atkins Museum’s Atkins Auditorium—Heading Home: A 21st Century Pilgrimage lands here, bringing its creators, its story, and its soul to the heart of the Midwest, thanks to The Culture House.
So, what happens when you gather university presidents, painters, theologians, photographers, and spoken word artists—and send them zigzagging across continents, retracing the ancient roads where the Gospel first collided with the world’s darkness? You get a documentary that feels less like a film and more like a lived encounter—one that asks you not just to watch, but to walk alongside.
As Ben Quash of London’s National Gallery of Art explains in the film, “You can look at these works and buildings as part of the story of art but they’re also part of the story of faith and if you’re not interested in that story, you’re only getting part of the picture. You don’t have to be a person of faith to think about how they’re part of the story of faith. You just to have enough of an imagination to feeling your way into why these things mattered.”
At the center of this pilgrimage is Roberta Ahmanson, a philanthropist and journalist with a knack for seeing past the surface of things. Ahmanson’s voice, both literal and figurative, narrates the film. Her deep dives into the history of church art and architecture aren’t just academic; they’re personal, rooted in decades of travel and study. “I’m interested in what is true, what is real, and how we come to know it,” she says. “That’s what draws me to beauty, to art, to the old stories that keep calling us back” she told Image Journal.
Ahmanson’s background as a religion reporter and her work as a patron of the arts make her uniquely suited to trace Christianity’s journey across time and space. As she told Image Journal, “Art is essential to human flourishing. It shapes the soul, and by shaping the soul, it shapes the world.” That sense of reverence for both the past and the present permeates the film, which unfolds like a travelogue stitched together with moments of wonder, doubt, and gratitude.
Heading Home isn’t simply a catalogue of stained glass and stone. It’s a meditation on why beauty matters, especially now—when cynicism and exhaustion seem to be the tenor of the age. The journey covered nearly 4,000 miles and 2,000 years, stopping at sites where Christian imagination and courage left their mark, from ancient cathedrals to modern street art. It’s won acclaim around the world including from Faith in Film International Film Festival, Letters to Artists Film Festival and a nomination for best documentary.
The creative team is as eclectic—and electric—as the route itself. Jody Hassett Sanchez, the film’s Emmy-nominated director, has spent her career exploring the collision of faith and culture. Her previous work, More Art Upstairs, dug into how creativity and community overlap in surprising ways. For Heading Home, Sanchez describes the project as a “visceral reminder that art and faith have always walked together, lighting the way forward”.
Joining Sanchez on stage will be Scottish photographer Kieran Dodds, whose haunting images provide much of the visual poetry of the film, and spoken word artist Mitchell “Street” West, whose live performances have moved audiences from London’s Royal Albert Hall to church basements and city parks. Street’s appearance at the Royal Albert Hall with the All Souls Orchestra was described as “orchestrated wonder”—a rare fusion of hip hop, poetry, and sacred music.
On the night of the screening, Street will perform live before the film—a chance to witness his signature blend of rhythm, rhyme, and raw honesty. “I never knew that the outlet of Spoken Word could allow me to soar so high,” he reflected after his Royal Albert Hall performance, “I will take this as a sign that I am not only supposed to dive deeper, but to invite others along for the journey.”
After the screening, the guests—Sanchez, Dodds, West, and Ahmanson—will host a Q&A, inviting the audience to wrestle with the same questions that shaped their pilgrimage: What does it mean to call something sacred? How does beauty break through cynicism? Where is the journey leading us next?
“If you’ve always wanted to know more about the history of how Christians transformed a dark world with light, the truth of the Bible, and beauty, and you don’t have 20 years to go to seminary, this is an opportunity of a lifetime,” says Jeremiah Enna, founder and Executive Director of Kansas City’s Culture House.
Seating is limited, so sign up at culturehouse.com. And be ready: you might leave with more questions than answers, and a fresh sense of home in the journey itself. This isn’t just a film. It’s an invitation to see with new eyes.
For more information visit headinghomethefilm.com
–Dwight Widaman
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