Coney Island Film Festival opening night screening
AMERICAN CARNY:
True Tales of the Circus Sideshow

Friday Oct. 6th, 2006 - 7:30pm
Sideshows by the Seashore, 3006 W.12th St. @ Surf Ave. Tickets for the opening night screening & party are $25. Tickets for the screening only are $6.

 

STEP RIGHT UP! and come on the inside -- Beyond the banners and into the morbid curiosity that is the American Sideshow. Join Carnival Maestro Todd Robbins and award-winning filmmaker, Nick Basile, on a journey into a world of circus freaks, fire eaters, human blockheads, magicians, contortionists, professional lunatics, and much, much more.
In this in-depth documentary, you will travel the historic road of the American sideshow from the circus tents to the American Dime Museum in Baltimore, to the last 'ten-in-one sideshow' that exists today on Brooklyn's infamous Coney Island.

The film follows sideshow performer Todd Robbins, the world's foremost purveyor of reality at its most amazing. Todd will eat glass, hammer a nail into his nose, spit out a huge ball of fire, walk over broken bottles in his bare feet, swallow swords, do the unthinkable with a small balloon, and using only the power of his lungs - blow up a hot water bottle until it explodes. Todd, a unique talent, is a member of a dying breed.

Along with Ula 'the Pain Proof RubberGirl', the Great Nippulini, Xenobia 'the woman with a beard', and many other performers of the backend shows, you will witness a piece of American history and catch a glimpse into the realm of an all but forgotten art form. An art form that was sometimes looked upon as dark, macabre, and exploitive, but one that inspires shock, amazement, and awe. It is the SIDESHOW!