Beautiful, interesting, incredible cinema.

See what’s playing
Calder's 1927 Great Circus
Calder's 1927 Great Circus
7.1
/10
229 Ratings

CALDER'S 1927 GREAT CIRCUS

Le Grand Cirque Calder 1927

Directed by Jean Painlevé
France, 1955
Short, Documentary

Synopsis

This documentary records a performance of the Cirque Calder, a famous miniature circus created by Alexander Calder in 1920s Paris. His friends, amongst them many twentieth-century art icons, sat on crates, while Calder, on the floor, manipulated his characters to fly through the air.

Synopsis

This documentary records a performance of the Cirque Calder, a famous miniature circus created by Alexander Calder in 1920s Paris. His friends, amongst them many twentieth-century art icons, sat on crates, while Calder, on the floor, manipulated his characters to fly through the air.

Our take

The miniature circus of artist Alexander Calder is an innovative design feat made using ordinary objects with the power to conjure up kinetic new fantasy worlds. Another explorer of hidden worlds—Jean Painlevé—brings the circus to life for the first time on film in an avant-garde meeting of minds.