Pauliina Räsänen

A man stays alone with his children in a half demolished house in the middle of a desolate field. His wife has just been killed by a grenade in a military battle. He is expecting a new attack. Instead a wandering caravan called Circus Fantasticus stops by the house. They bring along the dying director of the circus. Is it possible for anything beautiful to happen in a landscape of war and death? Can life go on? Is it possible to realize that death does not exist?

A far cry from the dialogue-free circus performances Cirque du Soleil is known for, Alegria chronicles the fate of a small boy who has been forced into slavery. Eventually, he learns that in order to free himself and the other children, he must defeat a fire-breathing or an equally tough but decidedly more philosophical inner dragon.