Look Who it Was Random video

Circo Togni installation, with live music by Available Jelly, part 1

470 views · Published 11 April 2012 · 8:38 · Indexed 10 November 2026

Channel: Eye Filmmuseum · 2012 · Film & Animation

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April 5th 2012: To add lustre to the opening of EYE's exhibition Found Footage: Cinema Exposed, the Archivio Nazionale del Film di Famiglia archive presented an installation/performance featuring live music from jazz improvisation ensemble Available Jelly. 

The archive presents an extraordinary collection of 8mm home movies made in Bologna by the Togni family, a dynasty of famous circus artists, that were shot from the early 1940s up until the 1970s. They were discovered in a terrible state in a circus wagon in 2006.   Behind the camera is circus legend, Darix Togni, a lion and tiger tamer. He circles his enormous family -- children, women, men and various animals -- and is always on the move; the circus never stops. The 8mm cameras also focuses on special family moments, with parties, games and trips to the Italian coast.

"The films were found in a circus wagon. They were in such bad condition that, in the beginning, it was impossible to project them. They were all glued together and completely covered in damp, mould and dust. However, thanks to new cleaning techniques, we managed to save nearly all of them. And the images appeared again in all their brightness." (Associazione Home Movies -- Archivio Internazionale del Film di Famiglia, La Camera Laboratorio Ottica)".

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