From 1885 to 1951, Canadian law banned the Indigenous Potlatch ceremony. Those who defied the ban were arrested, and masks and ceremonial objects were confiscated. The Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw nation has made it their quest to track down these sacred items. In some cases, the masks traveled across the country and eventually to Europe, finding their way into museums and private art collections, as well as ending up in the hands of surrealists like Max Ernst, André Breton, and Joan Miró. So Surreal: Behind the Masks traces the delightful confluence of the Yup’ik sensibility and the Western avant-garde movement and demonstrates the tremendous impact of Indigenous art in the most unexpected corners.
Neil Diamond and Joanne Roberton’s hugely entertaining film is part detective movie, part art doc. As it moves back and forth between Alert Bay, New York, and Paris, it provides an unusual and little-known perspective on art history, while highlighting the crucial work of redressing the cultural genocide perpetrated by Canadian and American authorities. Vital and vibrant, this film is an outstanding achievement.
Sept 29: Q&A with directors Neil Diamond & Joanne Robertson
Oct 1: Q&A with director Joanne Robertson
Presented by
Media Partner
Neil Diamond, Bill Cranmer, Juanita Johnston, Chuna McIntyre, John McIntyre
Canada
2024
English
Open to youth at SFU Woodwards
At Fifth Avenue
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Credits & Director
Executive Producer
Catherine Bainbridge, Ernest Webb
Producer
Daniel Morin
Screenwriter
Neil Diamond, Joanne Robertson
Cinematography
Glauco Bermudez, Yoan Cart
Editor
Rebecca Lessard
Original Music
Anaïs Larocque
Neil Diamond
Neil Diamond is a Cree filmmaker from Waskaganish, Quebec, on the coast of James Bay. Neil co-directed the award-winning feature documentaries, Reel Injun (2009) and the more recent Red Fever (2024) along with Cree Spoken Here (2001), One More River (2004), and Heavy Metal: A Mining Disaster in Northern Quebec (2005). He is an award-winning photographer, and co-founder of The Nation, the first news magazine to serve the Cree of northern Quebec and Ontario.
Filmography: Cree Spoken Here (2001); One More River (2004); Heavy Metal: A Mining Disaster in Northern Quebec (2005); Reel Injun (2009); Inuit Cree Reconciliation (2013); Red Fever (2024)
Joanne Robertson
Joanne Robertson grew up as a settler on the west coast on the lands of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish). Today she is a director, researcher, and creative producer. She began her work with Rezolution Pictures over 25 years ago, collaborating with Cree co-director Neil Diamond on such documentary projects as Cree Spoken Here (2001), Dab Iyiyuu (2004-2006), and One More River (2004). She has worked as a story producer on APTN’s Lands Enchanted (2024) and the award-winning documentary Red Fever (2024).
Filmography: À Table (2010)
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Resident Orca
Captured in Puget Sound in 1970, killer whale Lolita spent the next half century in a cramped tank in Seaquarium, Miami. The film follows a coalition of Lummi elders, animal lovers and philanthropists on a rescue mission to return her to the ocean.
No Other Land
Deemed by many critics one of the essential films of 2024, a multiple festival award winner and Academy Award winner for Best Documentary, No Other Land is a reminder that mass expulsion is by no means a new reality for Palestinians.
Misericordia
Edgy, eccentric, and unapologetically queer, this film goes from drama to comedy without putting a foot wrong. Sex and murder are the subjects, and writer-director Alain Guiraudie (Stranger by the Lake) mines them for suspense and outrageous laughs.
There's Still Tomorrow
A critical and box office sensation in Italy, Paola Cortellesi's triumphant directorial debut is the tale of a Roman housewife in 1946, who stands up against the routine sexist abuse she suffers. Funny, heartbreaking and inspiring.
The Way, My Way
All manner of pilgrims flock to France and Spain to walk the 800 km Camino de Santiago. One such is Bill, a stroppy sexagenarian Australian filmmaker who's determined to do the Camino with minimal prep, a dickey leg, and no firm idea why.