Panorama
The Circus Dynasty Cirkus dynastiet Anders Riis-Hansen
INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE
Once upon a time there were two famous circus families in northern Europe: the Berdino family (the biggest) and the Casselly family (the most acclaimed). Within the space of a year, a Berdino son and a Casselly daughter were born. They grew up together and what everyone hoped would happen, did happen: they fell in love. It sounds like a fairytale, and that’s how the story is filmed. Patrick Berdino and Merrylu Casselly are an invincible duo in the ring, and a golden promise for the future of a circus dynasty. The families have been traveling together for 20 years, and the cameras follow the tribulations, speculations and especially the developments around this ideal circus couple over the course of several seasons. The cameras are rolling when Casselly gets an offer from the celebrated American circus Barnum & Bailey’s – but accepting would mean that Patrick and Merrylu would be separated. They film the daily routines, the setting up and breaking down of the tents and caravans, the stories of the ancestral fathers and mothers, the travails and suffering of the artists, and the first, inevitable, cracks in the circus romance of the century. The high points, literally, are the superb atmospheric shots of the glittering illusion created in the ring – no place for tears and pain.
Denmark, 2014 DCP, color, 90 min Director: Anders Riis-Hansen Cinematography: Anders Riis-Hansen, Anders Löfstedt, Lars Skree Editing: Lars Therkelsen, Line Hillerbrand Sound: Peter Schultz Production: Malene Flindt Pedersen for Hansen & Pedersen Film og Fjernsyn World Sales: CAT&Docs Screening Copy: Danish Film Institute Involved TV Channels: TV2, NRK, SVT
Anders Riis-Hansen:
They Took My Child (1994), Leon Owild – A Career in Crime (1995), Taxi (1995), War of the Class (1995), Birds of a Feather Flock Together (1995), Inner Screams (1996), The Male Warrior (1996), Revisiting the Spanish Front (1997), Africa’s Blue Flashes (1997), Fakse Youth Hostel (2003), The Invisible Cell (2009)
Anders Riis-Hansen & Anders Østergaard:
Music Is Life (2001), The Vanguard of Democracy – Images of Power (2004)
Anders Riis-Hansen & Jørgen Flindt Pedersen:
The Boys from Vollsmose (2002)
Cotton Zhou Hao
EUROPEAN PREMIERE Tens of millions of Chinese farm laborers work day and night on the various processes making up the cotton industry. They grow and harvest the cotton balls, spin them into yarn, weave fabrics and turn them into jeans. The production of cotton articles involves entire farming families. We accompany a horde of baggage-laden factory workers making the long journey in overflowing train carriages, singing happily about their tough lives. Before dawn, the uniformed cotton pickers are transported by trailer to the plantations. This film gives a face to the otherwise anonymous Chinese workers, some of whom we watch in short scenes. Among themselves they express criticism of their working conditions, the low pay and the physical strain. Small groups of factory workers go about their daily routines: eating, sleeping and working. Great friendships develop in the dormitories, and there are conversations about the future and the possibility of protest. Should they stop working and return to work the fields of their home village? Despite it all, the thought of a regular job and the hope of promotion help to keep up the spirits of the young workers.
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China, France, 2014 DCP, color, 83 min Director: Zhou Hao Cinematography: Zhou Hao, Tan Jiaying, Yuan Zhe Editing: Axelle Schatz Sound: Zhou Hao Production: Han Lei for Documentary Channel of SMG, Michel Noll for ICTV-Solferino Images Executive Production: Gan Chao, Qiming Ying Screening Copy: Documentary Channel of SMG
Zhou Hao:
Houjie Township (2003) Senior Year (2006) Using (2008) The Transition Period (2009) Cop Shop (2010) Emergency Room China (2013)