Zirkuskind

For a year, Julia Lemke and Anna Koch follow the Circus Arena through the four seasons — from the circus child Santino’s eleventh birthday, in spring. At its centre: Santino and his great-grandfather Ehe, one of the last of Germany’s great circus directors. Told for children, with picture-book animations woven through it, and without smoothing over the gravity beneath.

Both directors had loved the Eddi Musik children’s songs, so I knew early on that I wanted Jörg Hochapfel with me — we have made all of the music picture books together — and, just as quickly, that the accordion would carry Santino, the boy at the heart of the film, played by Valentin Butt, whose sound shaped that book series too. We wanted a sound with moving parts, yet melodic — full of the noise of keys and bellows. As live, as raw, as close-miked as possible. The music should stay open and airy, settling around the images and the characters rather than reaching for the obvious clichés. Over the course of the production it became clear that we also needed music for the circus’s own scenes — setting up, letting the audience in, the performance, striking the tent. For those, we let the spirit of the great composer Reto Parolari carry us along. The closing song, “Ich fahr die Landstraße runter”, is sung by Emilio Frank — a member of the circus family and, among other things, the Circus Arena’s clown. We recorded a new version with a full band in Berlin.