SO SURREAL: BEHIND THE MASKS

SO SURREAL: BEHIND THE MASKS

June 2, 2025
Algonquin Theatre

Part detective story and part illuminating history, Behind the Masks is a must-see for anyone who loves art, culture, and entertaining docs.

Using illustration and engaging storytelling, Cree director, Neil Diamond tells how Indigenous masks left their homelands through trade, sale and theft and their ultimate and surprising influence on the Surrealist art movement in Europe. With dreamy Surrealist imagery interspersed with Yup’ik dancers in masks, interviews with current-day carvers and art experts, and one particularly arresting scene in the Louvre with Yup’ik artist, storyteller, and dancer Chuna McIntyre, this doc masterfully weaves together the threads of cultural and artistic histories.