Anne Svejgård Lund: A Place in the Ring
It took me by surprise, when I saw that the film about Katja Schumann was selected for Nordisk Panorama. I had read the overall positive review of Danish Kim Skotte in Politiken but in competition with other Danish documentaries by a director I had never heard of before. And with the quota system of Nordisk Panorama – equal number of films from each Nordic country – could that happen?
Right choice! The film is an excellent portrait of the former Circus Princess from the Schumann dynasty, Cirkus Schumann, that I remember from my childhood and youth, when I was taken by my parents to the Circus Building in Copenhagen for wonderful performances. The last performance in that building, that still carries the name Circus, was in 1969 – I will get back to that.
I’m not ready to be archived, Katja Schumann, born in 1949, says. And the film shows a very active elderly woman, who sees it as her responsibility to pass on, what she has learned in the Ring. 20 year old Liv is her student, who moves into the home of Katja and her Luffe at their place in Northern Jutland. But I don’t know how to pass on, she says, I hate the word pedagogical! Learning by Doing shows to be the solution.
That’s one of many layers in the film, the relationship between Katja and Liv, described with warmth and smiles from both of them. Another is the going back to archives, where you see Katja as the princess, where you are told and shown, how the horses are trained, Katja being recognised as one of the best horse trainers ever. And there is a trip to the US, where her two children are living. And grandchildren. Key scenes with her son reveal that “it wasn’t easy for my kids”, when she divorced their father and left for Denmark. There is pain in these scenes, that come at the right moment, and witness that the editing overall is simply formidable.
From the US back to the circus in Jutland to the training with Liv; how to whip the horses, how to walk in the arena, how to… flavoured with archive and with showing of costumes, and a trip to circus Knie in Switzerland, where the owner, with whom Katja has performed, says “in the old days everything was learned by force, today there has to be enthusiasm… “. Liv has that enthusiasm and we see how she improves.
Back to the Circus Building, where Katja has not been since 1969. How is it to be here, the director asks behind the camera. Terrible, Katja answers, and if you ask more questions I start to cry…
A unique cultural art form is no longer. But a unique documentary has been made reminding us, what we have lost, conveyed by a wonderful circus princess.
Denmark, 2025, 95 mins.
❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️❤️ ❤️
