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Circus Without Borders is a documentary about Guillaume Saladin and Yamoussa Bangoura, best friends and world-class acrobats from remote corners of the globe who share the same dream: To bring hope and change to their struggling communities through circus. Their dream unfolds in the Canadian Arctic and in Guinea, West Africa, where they help Inuit and Guinean youth achieve unimaginable success while confronting suicide, poverty and despair.
Seven years in the making, Circus Without Borders, this tale of two circuses — Artcirq and Kalabante — was released in 2016 and is a culture-crossing performance piece and excellent documentary feature.
The film offers a portal into two remote communities, and an inspiring story of resilience and joy you will not easily forget.
The unlikely union of Artcirq in Iglooklik, located in the Arctic Tundra of Canada and Kalabante in Conakry, the poverty-stricken capital of Guinea, West Africa, grows out of a deep friendship between founders Guillaume Saladin and Yamoussa Bangoura.
In sharing their passion and teaching young people the art and skills of the circus, they work to combat the despair of a generation struggling with the painful legacy of colonialism.
Yamoussa and Guillaume met while performing in Montreal in 2001.
“We just discovered we had the same dream, helping kids through circus,” Yamoussa says.
Susan Gray, the director of the documentary feature Circus Without Borders and her team follow Yamoussa to Guinea, where he has launched Kalabante to encourage impoverished youth interested in acrobatics. With the potential for employment abroad.
In Iglooklik, where the French Canadian Guillaume partly grew up with his anthropologist parents, the film looks at Artcirq, which Guillaume founded to engage the large population of young indigenous people in their local traditions through circus.
He encourages the passing on of their storytelling culture, and clowning is accompanied by throat singing.
The Artcirq performers balance in formations mimicking the Inukshuk stone cairns on surrounding ice and snow.
These performances happen with the viewers still able to remember first-hand when Inuit children were sent to missionary schools, where they were separated from their families and not allowed to practice their language.
The film Circus Without Borders has beautiful moments of performance, even when it’s on a trash-strewn beach, as when the young men of Kalabante audition for the equestrian circus Cavalia, twisting through seemingly impossible somersaults before the waves.
Members of Artcirq briefly visit the group in Guinea, but otherwise their stories are distinct.
The film Circus Without Borders traces their intersecting journeys as troupe members confront heartrending challenges and become internationally-known performers who return home to transform their communities.
Kalabante is a way out of poverty, and in that a way out of Guinea for the performers. Artcirq is a way to reconnect with home.
Through a unique mix of tradition and acrobatics, talented young artists from opposite corners of the world have stepped onto the world stage in this beautiful documentary, to share with us all what they have learned:
However, Yamoussa stresses the importance of working hard and making a stand in this life to create a chance for yourself to make your dreams come true.
“Life is not just opening your arms and then everything will come to you. It’s about taking one step forward and pushing against all barriers. That’s how things will change.”
It is everyone’s responsibility to take care of their own life.
Yet, while one person, or even a troupe of people juggling and soaring through the air, can only do so much, there’s a shared spirit of survival in Circus Without Borders’ inspiring story. A shared spirit of overcoming. And the possibility of performing for a more positive future.
“Circus Without Borders is a gorgeous film that introduces heavy subject matter like suicide and depression, in communities a world apart, but does so through the magic of the circus. It is a film full of hope, tenderness, spirit – and performances that leave a viewer wanting more.”
Nathalie Applewhite, Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting
“Their performances of balletic acrobatics backed by haunting traditional music are exhilarating, but equally thrilling is the positive impact the groups have on communities where poverty, youth disaffection, drugs, and suicide have taken a toll.”
Peter Keogh, Boston Globe
The film can be rented or bought online.
Official homepage Circus Without Borders
On Create a Stir: Kalabante grows from the streets and beaches of Guinea to a thriving circus school in Montreal
Circus Without Borders on ImdB
Opera Village Africa – a Vision by Director Christoph Schlingensief
Wunika Mukan, Nigeria-Based Curator, on Giving African Artists a Voice
Liam Klenk was born in Central Europe and has since lived on four continents. Liam has always been engaged in creative pursuits, ranging from photography and graphic design, to writing short stories and poetry, to working in theatre and shows. In 2016, Liam published his first book and memoir, 'Paralian'.
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