Screening “Tearing Down the Tent”
There’s a tight knot that creeps up on my stomach each time the credits start to roll for my circus documentary, “Tearing Down the Tent.” And Saturday night was no different.
Oh sure, the screening group was made up of about 20 to 30 of my friends, who brought people they knew as well, so it was a “kid gloves” crowd. Especially since they knew this was my first outing at directing a feature film.
But you sit there and you watch the crowd and hope people laugh at the right spots and seem caught up in the story. The hilarious thing is, since I’ve seen this movie MULTIPLE times with two of my friends, we were actually in the back row quietly heckling the film. Not in a bad way. Just noticing things that made us start to laugh or think of other things.
On of my favorite moments was a reference to the show, “Metalocalypse” during a sequence involving clowns “Tearing Down the Tent.” My friend, Brian, was sitting in the audience and blurts out a line from “Metalocalypse” saying, “I woke up with a clown’s hand down my pants.” I about fell out of my chair laughing, since it was out of context, but still fit with the movie.
Brian was definitely a friend I enjoyed sitting in the crowd with watching the movie. During a dog act in the circus documentary a pony comes into the ring and Brian goes, “That’s an awfully big dog.”
He also won points for a part of the movie that currently does not have sound. In response to that scene Brian yanks out his phone and grabs a song from his music library and plays circus music. It was perfect.
These private moments were made that much better by seeing everyone respond to the film. Laughing in all the right spots and connecting with the people. Because ultimately this is a movie about people, the circus performers, and their dying art form. It’s about the circus performers who are keeping this nostalgic form of entertainment alive and what it takes to bring it to a town.
My two favorite compliments for the movie was that we picked the perfect music, provided by the bands Bombadil and Hellblinki Sextet, and that people enjoyed the stories that this cast of colorful characters had to tell about their real life adventures with the circus.
They got to enjoy the moto-globe of death, laugh at my friend Jamie Reel enjoying himself as a clown, and cringe at the hair act in which women are, literally, lifted off the ground by their hair and sent spinning through the air.
The documentary covers a lot of ground in 90 minutes, from touching on the struggles the circus faces, including soaring gas prices, transporting wild animals and dealing with more and more open land being built on. The story also focuses on the human side of the circus, with one performer talking about dealing with a breakup while still having to perform circus acts with their ex-lover and another performer telling the story of how he fell in love with his wife while traveling with the circus. Several performers also talk about their fear they may have to give up traveling with the circus for a “normal” life.
These stories kept the audience interested and made me happy. Because I love the people we met during filming. The performers with the Cole Bros. Circus went out of their way to help us and be genuine with us. And this movie is only good because of their willingness to work with us.
The results are still in a rough cut of the film, but people’s response to the film are starting to look good.
Among Saturday night’s crowd a lot of people called the movie amazing. Which is great.
But I know the truth. It’s still got a lot of work.
Right now, in my opinion, the way the movie is it’s a C+ film, but with a few more showings and input from the public we can really raise this to be a better movie. But this was just a rough cut and people loved what they saw.
It’s a good start. And a freshman film I’m happy I made.
By Michael Knox, director of “Tearing Down the Tent” and Modern Film Zine writer, mknox@modernfilmzine.com
