Cast & crew

Guantanamo Circus

2013
27m

IMDb RATING

9.2/10

YOUR RATING

A hardy troupe of circus performers is cleared by the FBI, CIA, Homeland Security and the Pentagon in order to take their act to the home of one of the most notorious prisons in the world, Guantanamo Bay Cuba.

These singers, dancers, jugglers, magicians, aerialists and musicians have no idea whatÂ’s waiting for them when they arrive at a place everyoneÂ’s heard of but very few know much about. They soon discover things arenÂ’t quite what they assumed. A soldier tells them, Â“Guantanamo Bay, itÂ’s a great place to raise your kids.Â” They were entering a giant time capsule Â“like a Twilight ZoneÂ’s 1950s surreal small town,Â” said one of the performers. Fortunately, they werenÂ’t going to the prison.

Actually, they were going to a side of the base almost no one has ever reported on Â– the side where military families, civilian contractors, mostly Jamaican and Haitian refugees and their children live, work and play. They put their various political views aside because as clowns, they feel "children are children" and they deserve to be entertained. In fact, itÂ’s clear a Â“place like GTMOÂ” needs an infusion of Â“positive energy.Â”

There are no sides and no alliances beyond that. Being on a remote island hemmed in by the translucent waters of the Caribbean on one side and a minefield and concertina wire on the other means you have to bring whatever you need with you or youÂ’d better learn to improvise. An old utility truck will have to do to hoist our aerialist 75 feet into the air and an outdoor stage with a camouflage curtain is as good as it gets on the island.

This isnÂ’t Broadway. They have to keep a lot of balls in the air to pull this off but thatÂ’s what they do. This new generation of vaudevillians embrace the time honored dictum "the show must go on." Our Circus performers are dedicated to Â“make us all laughÂ” no matter what.

Written, Directed and Produced by Michael Rose and Christina Linhardt

Produced by Perigee Productions
Â© Perigee Productions 2013

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News Adventure Documentary Family Short

A hardy troupe of circus performers is cleared by the FBI, CIA, Homeland Security and the Pentagon in order to take their act to the home of one of the most notorious prisons in the world, G... Read allA hardy troupe of circus performers is cleared by the FBI, CIA, Homeland Security and the Pentagon in order to take their act to the home of one of the most notorious prisons in the world, Guantanamo Bay Cuba. These singers, dancers, jugglers, magicians, aerialists and musicians ... Read allA hardy troupe of circus performers is cleared by the FBI, CIA, Homeland Security and the Pentagon in order to take their act to the home of one of the most notorious prisons in the world, Guantanamo Bay Cuba. These singers, dancers, jugglers, magicians, aerialists and musicians have no idea what awaits them when they arrive at a place everyone has heard of but very f... Read all