GROWING UP CIRCUS

An inside look at growing up in a circus family with an important focus on parenting skills: giving your daughter the “right to choose” — finding the freedom to determine her own direction in life.  (An official selection of the 2019 San Antonio Film Festival) Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/pg/CieEquili... Twitter -   / micetame   GROWING UP CIRCUS had its world premiere at the San Antonio Film Festival in July 2019. It is the unique life story of an international award-winning circus couple (Michélé Chen and Amélie Demay), who specialize in the art of hand balancing — and how they meet the challenges of raising their teenage daughter (Romina Chen) in the unique environment of circus culture. (Running time: 27 minutes). Michélé Chen comes from a multi-generational circus family in Portugal. He grew up learning hand balancing skills from the family owned “Circo Chen” and together with his first partner they were awarded the Gold Medal from the internationally prestigious “World Festival of the Circus of Tomorrow.” Amélie Demay is French, has a family background in theatre, learned circus skills at the Académie Fratellini in Paris, and joined the Cirque du Soleil. For the handbalancing act she performed with her first partner, they were awarded the Gold Medal from the prestigious “World Festival of the Circus of Tomorrow.” Later in life Michélé and Amélie would marry and they became a husband and wife performing team — developing their own unique handbalancing act that they performed through out Europe. The producer/director, John Vasey, has worked in scripted narrative, documentary, and promotional videos. He was also a production executive for over two decades with the pay cable network, Showtime, supervising movies and series — and he has taught at the USC film school and with film students at Chapman University. John first met Amélie Demay when she was a teenage circus performer with Cirque du Soleil in 1987. He later followed her transformation as she grew into an adult, met her husband, Michélé, and tracked the progress of their talented daughter, Romina. And because Amélié and Michélé are now middle aged performers, they faced special challenges in raising a teen in the unique environment of the circus — and it seemed like the right time to film their path of self discovery as parents/performers and to share their insights with a larger audience. MUSIC: Music provided by Pond5 “Tiny Circus,” by James William Chappell (BMI) Sonic Desktop Publishing (BMI) Music provided by Premium Beat “Happy Bean Tree,” by Junhak Lee “For You,” by Dan Philipson “Imagination in Action,” by Olive Musique Music provided by SmartSound “Mixed Greens,” by Robert F. Mann (BMI) Sonic Desktop Publishing (BMI) “Public Radio,” by Mark Gungor (BMI) Narrator Tracks Music (BMI)