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ENDED
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A YOUNG GIRL MIGHT DREAM OF RUNNING AWAY TO THE CIRCUS, but could she imagine her parents literally selling her to the circus? This is the fate of 50 Nepalese children who find themselves in harem-like isolation, taught to perform dangerous acrobatics, given no education and paid just enough to “work off” the advance their parents received in exchange for their services. Selected for their beauty and agility, the girls perform nightly in India’s Great Rayman Circus. A not-to-be-forgotten glimpse of a world hidden behind the spangles, spotlights and smiles of the big top. |
Among those who figure prominently in the film are: the acrobat Anita Viswakarma (age 12), who dictates a letter to the mother she has not seen in two years; the beautiful “sword and parrot artiste,” Anita Das (age 17); Ali Baba, the night watchman; the midget Saipan who fits easily into a shopping bag; and Johnson, a hunchbacked midget clown who speaks movingly of his loneliness and his desire to marry. The latter two, unique among the circus’s denizens because they are given access to the girls, provide additional insight into this strange and tragic world.
Presented with generous support from the Consulate General of the Netherlands in New York.|
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