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,
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. and was the opening night gala presentation at the 2019
Outfest film festival. It was available for streaming on Netflix on April 22, 2020. "Rachel's art is fluid — it's always easing in and out of different forms. She is a songwriter and performer; she's an actress, of a sort, who performs as if channeling the poetic inner souls of controversial leaders like Fidel Castro and Manuel Noriega." --
Claudine Ise In October 2023, Mason joined the
Museum of Neon Art's "Light in the Dark: Queen Narratives in Neon" exhibition, participating in a
panel discussion about LGBTQ+ connections to
neon art and the
Glendale, California community. Other panelists included museum
trustee Eric Lynxwiler, sex educator
Buck Angel, neon artist Dani Bonnet,
glendaleOUT member Paul Manchester, and activist
Shant Jaltorossian of
GALAS LGBTQ+ Armenian Society. 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. == Personal life ==