Circus Siblings
Section: Competition of European Feature Documentaries for Young Audience
Director: Glória Halász / Hungary / 2023 / 92 min
Hungarian, Ukrainian / Czech subtitles, English subtitles
Glória Halász, Balázs Hatvani
11:00 - 12:32
Golden Apple Cinema, sál 5
![](/img/20209a.jpg)
Glória Halász directed eight full-length documentaries, including many international co-productions, which were featured and awarded at acknowledged film festivals, gained main prizes including the Grand Jury Award of UNAFF (United Nations Association Film Festival) in the United States. Her projects are internationally distributed and broadcasted worldwide. Amongst others she has developed and created various film projects on a wide variety of topics, including films about a jail theatre company, a clown doctor, the world famous Recirquel contemporary circus company, women in India and their surviving story after major acid attacks, classical ballet students or the 100-Member Budapest Gypsy Symphony Orchestra. The relationship between fantasy and reality is a recurring issue in her work, and the fact that imagination can be a handhold in a seemingly hopeless situation. She is currently preparing for her first fictional feature film.
At the beginning of 2020, 12 students from Hungary are given the opportunity to continue their studies abroad in a special international class for circus artists. These 12- to 14-year-old children are prepared to leave their families and friends to start a new life far from home. However, at that moment, the global COVID-19 pandemic strikes, paralyzing the world and preventing their journey. After several months of uncertainty, the students are finally able to spend a semester at the Kyiv Academy of Circus Arts in the fall of 2021. They view the local life, which is shattered by war a few months later. A special bond forms between the Hungarians and Ukrainians, bridging the gap between cultures.