Circo Togni Home Movies

A series of 8mm films shot by the Togni family, the famous dynasty of circus artists, between the 1940s and the 1970s. Darix, a legend, and his family: the men, the women, the children, the animals. Always on the move, because the circus never stops. And when it isn’t in the foreground, it’s in the background. But the movie camera struggles to focus on special moments of a family that should be like so many others: the children growing up, the parties, the games, the seaside.

“The films were found inside a circus wagon in horrible shape. Time and poor conservation had had their effects on them, making it impossible to project them. We found them stuck together, encrusted by humidity, mold, dust, horribly dirty. Thanks to new cleaning techniques we experimented with, we were able to recuperate almost all of them. The images reappeared. This is a first selection we have put to live music. Like Rossellini’s works, they are intimate and, naturally, in progress.” (Associazione Home Movies, Laboratorio La camera ottica)