Created in collaboration with the National Fairground Archive, Benedikt Erlingsson’s vibrant, arresting and often disturbing documentary draws together a wealth of footage from a century of vaudeville, circuses and carnivals. From joyous clowning and spectacular stunts (high wires and human cannonballs) through the jaw-dropping exploitation of animals and children (babies being juggled, lions and tigers tormented) to interludes of delirious dance, The Show of Shows offers a kaleidoscopic history of three-ring revelry in all its many hues. Explanatory narration is eschewed in favour of an affecting score by Sigur Rós’s Georg Hólm and Orri Páll Dýrason in collaboration with Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson and Kjartan Dagur Hólm, which offers a clear and compelling wordless commentary.
