Cirkus Rwanda, a documentary film following a unique project uniting the Czech artistic group La Putyka and Rwandan Future Vision Acrobats, was presented in the Čas Cinema by the authors accompanied by most of the Rwandan ensemble.
Before their trip to Rwanda, director Michal Varga and producer Marek Novák shared the concerns of Rosťa Novák, the Cirk La Putyka principal: that the plane would crash, they will die of malaria, or someone will shoot them dead. However, their presumptions soon disappeared as they found a developed country where you can even connect to Wifi in public transport buses.
The initial instigation came with a contribution from the organisation People in Need, and then the authors visited Rwanda several times. Indeed, preparing a common project involving the Czech and Rwandan ensembles required a lot of time, the main obstacle being the necessity to obtain visas for the Rwandan artists. Shooting of the documentary as such took forty days. First the Czech group La Putyka went to Rwanda, then the local acrobats came to the Czech Republic to taste the cakes, try the traditional Czech leisure-time activity of mushroom picking, but also to rehearse with La Putyka a performance for the Prague festival of new circus Letní Letná within an extremely short time of fourteen days.
The audience often laughed during the first screening of the film, not only thanks to cultural differences, but especially on account of the conduct of Rosťa Novák, the director of the circus performance, who is shown as a strict crazy lunatic on one part and as a sensitive and honest person on the other part. The La Putyka principal's discipline and Rwandans' spontaneity sometimes butt heads. “The rehearsals were long, complex and difficult with Rosťa”, one of the Rwandan acrobat said, mimicking Novák's fury.
The co-operation culminated in the performance Hit, Tell the Difference, which successfully premiered at Letní Letná and was then presented approx. fifteen times throughout the Czech Republic. The performances will continue even after the Karlovy Vary festival, for the last time at the Prague venue Jatka78 on 9, 10 and 12 July. Rosťa Novák is already preparing a new project for the Rwandans, to be shown not only at Czech, but especially international theatres.
