Sergio Boldrin and his brother Massimo, two of Venice's top maskmakers, have been creating and displaying their wearable art since 1984.
Masks are one of the film's central symbols.
Kubrick even named the film after them. Players have used masks for centuries. At ancient Greek festivals honoring Dionysus, male performers began wearing huge masks bearing exaggerated expressions depicting female characters, different personalities, or moods. When the Romans conquered southern Europe, they adopted the Grecian love of theater, and the use of masks in plays and celebrations spread through Europe via their massive empire. In time people's ability to obscure their identity in public through the use of masks became too threatening for the Venetian government, and all masquerading was outlawed.