DP IAN ISSITT of New Bound Media and producer/director Angela Snow of Chicago/L.A.-based To the Moon Productions, are shooting a documentary following circus acts that will compete for the Golden Clown award at the 34th International Circus Festival in Monte Carlo, Jan. 14-24.
They will return Jan. 30 after shooting in 10 European cities for seven weeks to finish their “World Circus Culture” doc.
Telmondis, a European company which films circus festivals and Parisian events for European TV, will shoot the Monte Carlo festival and Issitt and Snow will shoot backstage scenes there.
The acts captured are American clown Rob Torres; Martin Lacy, Jr. of the Stuttgart Circus and his 17 lions; the flying Troupe Yakubov from Khakistan which is racing to train four Chinese performers recruited shortly after being accepted into the Circus Festival; the Duss Family Sea Lions and the Cirque du Soleil Russian Bar act.
Filming the circus doc happened at the last minute, Snow says. “After pushing for a year for permission from Telemondis, the World Circus Federation and the Monte Carlo Festival, it came through two months before we left for Europe.”
Consequently the original funding strategy was scrapped and the $75,500 budget is being aggressively pursued through grants and other avenues. See
