"Little Circus" Director Yoshiro Osaka It was the boys' positive attitude that made the movie possible [Director's Interview Vol.199]

Photographing boys as they are

Q: How was it directing people who aren't actors, given the language barrier?

Osaka: We communicated in Khmer and English, but I can't speak Khmer, so the female producer acted as an interpreter. She also had experience as a director, so it was easy to communicate with her about the direction. The script was not too rigid in content, and I left it quite broad, so I think it naturally became a documentary-like film.

The circus boys were used to acting because they regularly performed in theater scenes on the circus stage. However, they had no experience acting in front of a camera, and acting on stage is different from acting naturally, so we held several workshops before filming to practice acting in front of the camera.

Q: As you said, it has a documentary feel, but did you prepare a storyboard or anything like that when filming?

Osaka: There was no storyboard. We had the script translated into Khmer and had the children read it. We practiced the dialogue scenes before filming, but other than that, it felt like we were just filming the children as they normally do.

Q: What was the scale of the shoot?

Osaka: The filming period was one week. The producer also served as assistant director and supervised the script. The lighting and sound staff were all people who had been with us since our days as an NGO. Among them was a 17-year-old high school student. We were a small team of six people in total, but we all knew each other well and it was easy to communicate with each other.

“Little Circus” © 2022 A Little Circus

Q: It felt like watching a documentary, but the beautiful images were also impressive. How did you communicate with the cameraman?

Osaka: Even though the boys are used to performing on stage, they still get nervous when the camera gets close. The main character wasn't too nervous, but the other boys were, and you could tell through the camera. So I wanted to erase the camera's presence as much as possible, and I often shot from a distance with a telephoto lens. That way I could capture the boys looking natural. Also, as COVID-19 measures require quarantine after entering the country, photographer Matsuo Shinya was only able to meet up with us two days before the shoot. We had limited time to discuss things beforehand, so we talked a lot on the spot.

Q: I heard that the camera used was a compact Blackmagic and that the film was shot with a single zoom lens.

Osaka: That's right. That was Matsuo's theme. There were no camera assistants and the equipment was minimal, but he was enthusiastic, saying, "Let's show you how beautifully we can shoot." In the end, I think that style suited the story.

Q: The shots of you riding a big unicycle and practicing with the sunset in the background were very beautiful.

Osaka: That scene was shot on the runway of an airport. It's an unused airport now, and it's a place of relaxation for the locals, where many people go running and have barbecues. I've been there before, and the beauty of the sunset left an impression on me, so I wrote the script with the assumption that we'd shoot there from the beginning.

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