Release Year: 2008

Duration: 60 min

Availability:

Related: History, International, Politics, ITVS, PBS

Take a rare look behind the scenes of one of China’s most treasured exports—acrobatics. This intimate documentary reveals the rigorous physical training the children of the circus school must endure as they prepare for a make-or-break national competition. The Shanghai Circus School is renowned worldwide for the spectacular feats of its graduates, but many of its students arrive there as a last resort. Most of them were eliminated from the more prestigious dancing schools or gymnastics programs, and they can’t compete academically with their peers. Even as young children, success at the circus school has become their only shot at survival. With so much on the line, the students struggle through a seven-year training program which is often physically and psychologically grueling. Yet through exhaustion, injury and even broken bones, they let nothing stop their seamless and precise performances. The spirit and the grace of these indomitable children is sure to inspire.