"The Curse of the Circus"
“The Curse of the Circus” was written and produced by children from the Jay Miller Circus in Dorset, working with filmmakers Peter Snelling and James Price. This is an endearing tale of loneliness and friendship set in the Circus. The film includes the exuberance of the circus life and performance as well as creating good dramatic tension around the mystery of the circus ghost.
The young people who worked on this project had a great sense of achievement from learning how a film is made and then developing their own ideas into a film script. Finally seeing that script come to life during the shoot was both enjoyable and satisfying. Charlotte, one of the script team, said that writing the script had made her realise that creative writing could be enjoyable. When the film team came to view the film at the studio they were delighted with the end result.
Director Peter Snelling said of this project “We have less experience of working with young people under the age of 13 than we do with older groups. We were pleased and surprised that the young people who worked on ‘Curse of the Circus’ were able to engage and commit themselves to the project and create a film that told a story they found exciting whilst maintaining the staying power to complete a 4 day shoot made up of half days.
I was also really surprised by how much I loved being in a circus, by the family atmosphere of the crew and performers and the hospitality they showed to us.”< back