indigenous cultures

The surreal story of masks and an art movement

By: Tam Nguyen, staff writer Content warning: mentions of racial discrimination, cultural genocide, and colonization.  One of the best documentaries I saw this year was So Surreal: Behind the Masks, which played during the 2024 Vancouver International Film Festival. Created by Cree Canadian filmmaker Neil Diamond and director and actor Joanne Robertson, it follows the modern-day journey of the people of the Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw Nation trying to retrieve masks that were stolen from them in the ‘20s. It also explains how these masks helped ignite the artistic movement known as surrealism.  The documentary starts with the Potlatch — a traditional dance…

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