Rachel Mason is an American filmmaker whose work includes performance art, music, films and multimedia projects.
Her debut feature film The Lives of Hamilton Fish is a musical art film with no dialogue. Mason often performed the entire soundtrack live in front of an audience while touring the film to museums and festivals. The film's story is based on a true coincidence Mason discovered. Two obituaries of two men, both named Hamilton Fish, were printed on the front page of a newspaper from January 16, 1936. Hamilton Fish (aka Albert Fish) had been a serial killer while Hamilton Fish II had been a statesman. The latter was a descendant of 18th century politician Alexander Hamilton, who was killed in a duel by Aaron Burr; a large part of the film was shot on location at the Morris–Jumel Mansion where Burr once lived. The film also portrays one of the first known psychics, the White Crow, aka Leonora Piper.
The Lives of Hamilton Fish premiered at London's Raindance Film Festival in 2015, and Mason performed with the film as a live performance at museums including LACMA, Art in General, Henry Art Gallery, Corcoran Gallery, Albany Institute of History and Art, The Horse Hospital (London), Pineapple Underground Film Festival (Hong Kong), and Night Gallery (Los Angeles).
Mason's 2019 documentary feature film Circus of Books was acquired by Netflix and executive produced by Ryan Murphy. It is based on the story of the historic gay landmark Circus of Books, a book and magazine store that her parents ran from 1982 until 2019. The film had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 26, 2019, and was the opening night gala presentation at the 2019 Outfest film festival. It was available for streaming on Netflix on April 22, 2020.
In June 2024, Mason's documentary An Update on Our Family premiered at the Tribeca Festival, centering on family vloggers Myka and James Stauffer. It premiered in January 2025, on HBO. That same year, Mason directed and produced Last Take: Rust and the Story of Halyna centering on Halyna Hutchins, for Hulu.
