Documentary screening So Surreal: Behind the Masks

Join us for the screening of the documentary film So Surreal: Behind the Masks, presented in collaboration with the International Festival of Films on Art (FIFA). The film received a special mention at the Festival International du Film sur l’Art 2025. The screening will be followed by a Q&A and discussion with co-director Joanne Robertson.

So Surreal: Behind the Masks

So Surreal: Behind the Masks is a documentary film that tells the little-known story of the profound influence of Yup’ik (Alaska) and Kwakwakawakw (Northwest Coast) masks on some of the greatest artists of modern times: the surrealists. Part expedition, part spiritual quest, So Surreal: Behind the Masks follows Cree filmmaker Neil Diamond (Reel Injun, Red Fever) as he travels across North America, from west to east, and across the Atlantic Ocean, piecing together this globally-significant story that reveals the hidden and little-known Indigenous influences on Modern art. Along the way, Neil learns the tumultuous history of a Kwakwakawakw mask stolen during the Potlach ban 100 years ago and sets out on a quest for its return.

Neil Diamond & Joanne Robertson | Canada | 2024 | 88 min | English | Subtitles: French

Meet co-director Joanne Robertson

Joanne Robertson is a Montreal-based director, researcher, screenwriter and creative producer. She began her work with Rezolution Pictures over 25 years ago, collaborating on documentary projects such as Cree Spoken Here, Dab Iyiyuu and One More River. Since then she has honed her research, directing and story-producing skills on diverse documentary projects—including Making Movie History (with the National Film Board of Canada), Ports d’attache and Chacun son île (which earned her a Gémeaux award nomination in the category “Best Research: Documentary – Series”)—and more recently as story producer on the documentary series Lands Enchanted and Spirit of Birth and the award-winning feature documentary Red Fever. Joanne was also a producer on filmmaker Kara Blake’s installation Lasciare Suonare at Montreal’s Place des Arts and Todd Stewart’s award-winning short animation The Wind and the Trees. She recently co-directed the feature documentary So Surreal: Behind the Masks with Cree filmmaker Neil Diamond, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2024.

Information

• Screening in English with French subtitles, presented Wednesday, May 21, 2025, at 6 p.m. from 8 p.m.
  Space is limited, Reservation required
• A discussion in French and English will follow the screening. 
• Duration : 2 h
• Location : J. Armand Bombardier Theatre at the McCord Stewart Museum

Admissions

• General admission: $5
• Museum members, students, and members of Indigenous communities: free