Serial Maven Studios Acquires
So Surreal: Behind The Masks
Ahead of TIFF World Premiere

Serial Maven Studios is proud to announce its acquisition of the feature documentary So Surreal: Behind The Masks, written and directed by Neil Diamond and Joanne Robertson.

The film tells the captivating story of Indigenous masks and their profound impact on Surrealist art, making its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) 2024. It follows Cree filmmaker Neil Diamond (Reel Injun, Red Fever) on his journey to track the historic connection between Yup’ik and Northwest Coast ceremonial masks and the Surrealists, which soon turns into a quest to help return a Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw ceremonial mask to its rightful owners.

So Surreal: Behind the Masks delves into the profound Indigenous influence on this iconic art movement and ultimately comes to shine a light on the complex world of repatriation and the importance for Indigenous communities to have access to their cultural belongings that are held in museums and private collections – and in some cases try to bring them home.

Also 2024 marks the 100th anniversary of the first Surrealist Manifesto.

“We are thrilled to partner with award-winning Rezolution Pictures, bringing this groundbreaking story to platforms worldwide,” said Serial Maven Studios’ Solange Attwood.

So Surreal: Behind The Masks is generously supported by Canadian Media Fund, Quebec Production tax credits, Rogers Cable Network Fund, documentary Channel, Rogers Documentary Fund, Canadian tax credits & CBC/Radio-Canada.

So Surreal: Behind The Masks – TIFF Screenings

Press Screening – Thurs, Sept 5 – 11:35am  – Scotiabank 11
Public 1 – Tues, Sept 10 –  7:35pm –  Scotiabank 11
Public 2 – Thurs, Sept 12 – 12:30pm – TIFF Lightbox Cinema 4

Headquartered in Toronto, Serial Maven Studios is an internationally-focused next generation studio business focused on the development, financing, production, acquisition and monetisation of original content. The business is led by co-founder and renowned senior content executives Solange Attwood, CEO and COO & Executive Producer Julie Chang. https://serialmavenstudios.com/

Rezolution Pictures has been an Indigenous-owned production company that is changing the narrative when it comes to diversity and representation in the entertainment landscape. From ground-breaking award-winning documentaries to innovative scripted series, Rezolution has helped shape Canada’s film and television industry for the past two decades, working with many of the country’s best, new and established Indigenous talents to create unique audiovisual content.

For 24-years Rezolution Pictures has been establishing original Indigenous content within mainstream media and has sold programming around the world in major markets and broadcasters including APTN and APTN Lumi, Crave (Bell Media), CBC and CBC GEM, OMNI, TVO, RDI, ARTV, Tele-Québec, Knowledge, SRC, CMF/SODEC, and internationally with Netflix, PBS, Peacock +, FNX, and ARTE. 

Among the accolades for Rezolution’s productions are the Emmy-nominated Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World, which garnered awards at Sundance and Hot Docs; Reel Injun with the Gemini Award and the Peabody Award; and the numerous Canadian Screen Awards won for Rezolution’s full slate of programming. The most recent projects to hit the international screens are Crave’s original premium drama series, Little Bird, as well as the accompanying documentary, Coming Home (Wanna Icipus Kupi). Both the series and the documentary can be watched in Canada on Crave as well as APTN Lumi, in the U.S. on PBS, and in Germany on ARTE. https://www.rezolutionpictures.com/