Behind The Mask

***Behind The Mask*** is an upcoming documentary film by filmmaker Marie Losier, which follows The Residents before, during and after their 50th Anniversary tour of Europe in 2023. A release date for the film is yet to be announced.

The film began development in 2020, and entered production in late January 2023. The project is co-produced by Barberousse Films and Transpalette, and supported by ZDF and the Centre National du Cinema in partnership with ARTE and Villa Albertine.

## Synopsis

*Behind The Mask* is a "film essay" about The Residents, which explores the space "between myth and reality, between anonymity and everyday life", encompassing "storytelling, documentary, installation and creation" through the use of various formats including 16mm film, digital video and archive material.

The film opens with the death of the group's founding composer and engineer Hardy Fox in 2018, and features a "ceremony" intended to "bring Fox back to life". The film then follows a "fantastic journey" in the lives of the members of The Residents, imagining "scenes from their daily [lives]", with each scene like "a painting, presenting their [lives] and the characters they have been able to embody throughout their career".

## Production

French documentary filmmaker Marie Losier approached The Cryptic Corporation around 2021, proposing to produce a film on The Residents. Cryptic's "Captain Doc", Homer Flynn, was "sold" on the project when he saw and "loved" Losier's 2018 film *Cassandro the Exotico!*, which he described as an "amazing documentary".

*Behind The Mask* was quietly announced on January 27th 2023, through social media posts by @barberousse\_films on Instagram and Mathilde Delaunay on Facebook. The posts featured a photo of The Residents in their *Duck Stab! Alive!* costumes, alongside an announcement that filming had begun that day for a Marie Losier-directed film about The Residents.

Filming took place throughout 2023 in Bourges, Brussels, Paris, Essen, and San Francisco (all locations visited by The Residents on their Faceless Forever tour, and the last being their home of fifty years). The Cryptic Corporation's most direct acknowledgment of the documentary was in the March 2023 Cherry Red Residents newsletter, which mentioned that that the group had been "allowing themselves to be filmed for a proposed documentary."

On June 21st, Instagram accounts @barberousse\_films and @Fluorescentpool began publishing photos from the production of the film, debuting apparently newly constructed Mr. Blue, Mr. Green, and Mr. Brown eyeball masks (worn by François Yves Octave Marcel, Paula Rodríguez Polanco, and Eléonore Berrubé respectively). The photos also featured the actresses Vimala Pons and Marlène Saldana, and a number of crew members. Between June 22nd and July 1st, further set photos were uploaded to Instagram by @raquel\_\_wesh, @itsleoski, @Fluorescentpool, and @barberousse\_films.

The production moved to San Francisco for around early September. On September 8th, the second-generation Mr. Blue was spotted being filmed by Losier at Amoeba Records and Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco; Mr. Blue graciously posed for photos with fans during these appearances. The production left San Francisco after around "six or seven weeks".

Comparing Losier's film to Don Hardy's 2015 documentary *Theory of Obscurity: A Film About The Residents*, Homer Flynn noted that, as opposed to the "journalistic approach" of the earlier film, "what Marie is going to do will be 180 degrees different... so you'll have these two contrasting points of view, which I think is... very cool and, in a way, kind of Residential."

## See also

* Marie Losier
* *Faceless Forever*

## External links and references

* Marie Losier official website

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Works in Progress" at Marie Losier's official website
2. ↑ "We were approached about two, three years ago by a... French documentary filmmaker... and her name is Marie Losier and she's very well established. I mean, she has films in the Museum of Modern Art." Homer Flynn, "EP168: Homer Flynn / The Residents", *Electronically Yours with Martyn Ware*, November 3rd 2023
3. ↑ "The film that *[Losier]* did that I saw that really sold me was... she did one on a gay Mexican wrestler... that I just loved. I mean she went to Mexico and stayed with this guy for like six weeks, and then did this amazing documentary." Homer Flynn, "EP168: Homer Flynn / The Residents", *Electronically Yours with Martyn Ware*, November 3rd 2023
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Marie was just here. She only left about a week or ten days ago, and was here for about six or seven weeks shooting a documentary." Homer Flynn, "EP168: Homer Flynn / The Residents", *Electronically Yours with Martyn Ware*, November 3rd 2023
5. ↑ Post by James Dillon in The Residents unofficial Facebook group, September 8th 2023
6. ↑ Post by Allen White in The Residents unofficial Facebook group, September 8th 2023
7. ↑ "Don really is a journalist... and he took a very journalistic approach. [...] And, I mean... I really like Don Hardy's documentary too. But... what I'm really liking is that what Marie is going to do will be 180 degrees different... so you'll have these two contrasting points of view, which I think... is very cool and, in a way, kind of Residential." Homer Flynn, "EP168: Homer Flynn / The Residents", *Electronically Yours with Martyn Ware*, November 3rd 2023