Circus Tuomento

Directed by Veli Granö

Circus Tuomento is a documentary about Finland's most famous tightrope walker, Antti Tuomento (b.1968). After the tragic break of his circus career, he focuses on building his own city. About a dozen fascinating, organic buildings have been made in the garden. The city with its museum, church and theater can be seen as an attempt to take fate into one's own hands – and to build an entire alternative world. The second narrator of the film, Antti's father, novel writer Matti Tuomento (1933-2016), lived with the weight of his own failed career as an artist, his repulsion towards fatherhood and his own childhood trauma. He poured his own childhood trauma and artistic collapse over his family. Trauma, which has moved from one generation to the next, has now turned into Antti's fascinating city. It is one of the most important art environments in our country. Antti has declared the city of Pelimannimäki as an independent kingdom.