With her background both as a director and a choreographer, Shelly Love was commissioned by British circus arts school Circus Space to devise and direct a film using their second year students as performers.

(Having secured a small Arts Council grant to supplement the budget provided by Circus Space Shelly has created a lush, atmospheric piece featuring sixteen second year students and actor Gerard Bell called The Forgotten Circus.

Running backwards throughout, the film harks back to the roots of circus performance, with superb photography by Stein Stie.

Music for the film was composed by Jamie McDermott and performed by his alternative baroque orchestra The Irrepressibles, and is now part of the forthcoming Irrepressibles EP From The Circus To The Sea, which includes a DVD of The Forgotten Circus.

That’s out in January, but there is a special screening of The Forgotten Circus and live performance by The Irrepressibles this Wednesday, December 17th in the beautiful setting of St George’s Church in Bloomsbury in London. You can buy tickets for the performance only, or for the performance plus the From The Circus To The Sea CD/DVD package.

The Forgotten Circus was premiered at the Brachage Film Festival in September and has been selected for several film festivals both in the UK and international.

The Irrepressibles
The Forgotten Circus
Prod co: MJW
Director: Shelly Love
Producer: Miranda Davis/Anne Beresford
DoP: Stein Stie
Art director: Nigel Howlett
Wardrobe: Oliver Garcia
Editor: Mark Hunter
Post FX: Pogo
Online: Pogo
Grade: Pogo
Commissioner: Circus Space
Watch: trailer here
Watch The Irrepressibles’ In This Shirt, from The Forgotten Circus: