A scene from the Phare Ponleu Selpak show which was performed in Phnom Penh last year. Joel Gershon
Circus stars backflip onto the screen
Work
is underway on the first ever feature-length English-language
documentary about Battambang’s fine and performing arts school, Phare
Ponleu Selpak, and its internationally lauded circus program.
Phare
Ponleu Selpak – which means “the brightness of the arts” in Khmer – was
founded in 1994 by eight former refugees who participated in art
classes with French artist Véronique Decrop at the Site 2 camp on the
Thai-Cambodian border. They benefitted so much from the experience that
they pledged to share the gift of art therapy with other children
damaged by the civil war. The school, which has about 1,400 students,
now has visual and performing arts faculties along with social support
and education programs.
Phare’s circus school was created in 1998
to channel the energies of its most volatile, damaged and vulnerable
students with participants learning juggling, acrobatics, aerial acts,
clowning, balance and dance. Since 2002, troupes from the school have
performed internationally, but they also stage two electrifying
performances each week at home in an onsite big top in Battambang.
“When
I saw my first circus performance at Phare two years ago, I could
clearly see the joy and passion in the performers’ faces and I could
feel it in the audience’s energy,” Gershon said via email from Thailand.
“Then
when I heard the back story of the school, I was floored.… I asked the
show’s announcer that night after I saw the performance if there had
ever been a full-length documentary on the school, and he told me that
there hadn’t ever been any feature length films done in English. I
immediately knew that I had to go for it.”
When Gershon began
shooting in 2011 he intended to document the circus’s preparations to
perform for the first time in New York. But after a year working in that
direction, the tour was cancelled and Gershon had to find a new
subject.
Watching the fundraising trailer for Gershon’s
documentary – which shows Dina and Sopha’s incredible circus skills –
they juggle, tumble, perform backbreaking contortions, breakdance,
tightrope walk. It almost seems a stroke of luck that the tour was
scrapped. Sopha and Dina have serious star power and charisma.
Dina (centre) juggles at the National Circus School of Montreal. Joel Gershon
“In
the end, I think focusing on Sopha and Dina will work as a much more
emotionally satisfying story as the film can concentrate on these two
amazing characters,” said Gershon.
“Looking back on it now, I
don’t think the New York angle would have been as powerful, whereas the
film now documents a more substantive journey.”
Xavier Gobin – who
was one of Sopha and Dina’s mentors at Phare and now works at the
offshoot Phare Cambodia Circus in Siem Reap – said it was always obvious
the two performers were special.
“Sopha is an excellent
contortionist, equilibrist – which is like balancing and hand balancing –
and hand-to-hand artist. He was already showing exceptional skills. And
Dina is multi-talented; he is a juggler, clown, dancer and an acrobat.”
He said circus skills came naturally to Sopha and Dina, as for many Cambodians.
“Most
[Cambodians] have very good skills in acrobatics because they are very
used to climbing trees and to using their bodies very young,” Gobin
said. “They take risks, and families let them take risks from a very
young age and that shows because they are not afraid of anything.
“It’s
very obvious with cable tightrope walking: they’re really not afraid of
heights and have a really great sense of balance and orientation in
space when they jump or do physical circus exercises.”
Gobin said
Sopha and Dina were accepted into the National Circus School of Montreal
on the basis of a video audition in 2011 when they were 16. He helped
them with their passports and visas, accompanied them to Canada and has
maintained contact with them via Skype ever since. “They’re doing great
training over there,” he said. “Everyone is very impressed by their
capacity to adapt, which was not guaranteed from the beginning. Their
French is fluent now and their progress is very impressive.
“The
rhythm over there! They have to work 10 hours a day and they just bite
into it so much and they’re still very highly motivated even after two
years.”
Next to the National Circus School of Montreal is the
headquarters of Cirque du Soleil, the world’s most famous and
prestigious circus and the place where Sopha and Dina hope to perform
after they graduate in two years time.
“It’s my dream to be in Cirque du Soleil,” said Dina in Gershon’s trailer.
“When I went to see Cirque du Soleil for the first time. I felt in my heart that I wanted to go on stage and perform with them.
“When the show started … boom. And the hair on my body stood up like this. And my hair was like this.”
In
Gershon’s trailer, Cirque du Soleil’s acrobatic talent scout Marceline
Goldstein had nothing but praise for the Cambodian duo. “They’re
extremely gifted, talented acrobats and they’re really doing what they
really need to do to become professional circus artists and I think the
passion you can see via video that they both have, they have a desire to
perform to the best level that they can so I hope to see them
eventually at Cirque.”
Gershon has launched a campaign on
crowdfunding site Indiegogo to raise funds for the documentary. As of
press time he had secured $5,253. He said $25,000 was his goal.
“I am committed to making this film, no matter how it has to get done, even on my own – completely independently.
“I’ve
also pledged to give 10 per cent of the total funds raised directly to
Sopha and Dina if I hit my goal. They have their own financial
challenges, as it’s not easy for them to be able to afford the expenses
of living in Montreal.”
Gershon said he was uncertain when he will finish the film.
“I don’t want to rush it but I don’t want to take forever either,” he said.
“It will take at least a couple of years, but it will be worth the wait.”
To see the trailer for the documentary and make a donation go to http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/cirque-du-cambodia-from-the-rice-field....
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