03/07/2026 - As part of EFP’s Future Frames, the French director is ready to unspool his short circus drama about the fractured relationship between the title character and his father

Zampano follows the title character, who lives with his father, a former trapeze artist. Their fractured relationship is put even further to the test when his dad’s former circus comes to town and Zampano tries to break free and perform with Nina, a fellow trapeze artist with whom he is also in love. However, Zampano must conquer his fears if he wants to fly free.

With a wonderfully old-school sheen and some technically impressive sequences alongside the emotional story, the short comes from French director Teilo Quillard, who has directed both fiction and documentary films during his time at La Fémis film school. With the work preparing to have its international premiere at Karlovy Vary as part of EFP’s Future Frames, Cineuropa found out more about the influences that led Quillard to make it.

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Cineuropa: How did your background lead to Zampano being made?
Teilo Quillard: My father was a catcher on the flying trapeze. I had a complicated relationship with him in my early adulthood. Being in his forties, he was in the middle of a forced career change, like most trapeze artists: his body was slowly decaying, and was he accumulating multiple knee injuries. This had a serious impact on his mental health. I accompanied him through this hard time, trying to catch him so he wouldn’t fall into depression. In a strange way, the son became the father and the father became the son. The respective roles had to be put back into their natural place. I thought the flying trapeze could express that idea beautifully.

How did you cast a film like this?
I wasn’t sure about Zampano and Nina. The question was: do we look for acrobats who can act or actors who can be acrobatic? We decided to try both: we saw professional actors who had some circus aptitudes and actual circus performers who were willing to try acting. We contacted circus schools near the shoot location and asked to meet acrobats.

We landed upon Luca and Ambre, a real-life couple that do a clown and Chinese pole act together. Seeing them in the audition, we could feel the strong connection they had naturally, and they really stood out. When you are directing non-professional actors, you need to focus on their capacity to listen and react to directions. I felt that straight away with both of them.

There’s also a bunch of old circus performers that I have known since I was a child, and whom I knew from the very start I wanted in the film. In the short, they perform in the circus band – my father being the trumpet player.

What challenges do you face in trying to commit acrobatics to film?
The main challenge is not having many takes available. The actors will only be able to do a limited number of takes because the acrobatics demand a lot of energy. So, you must prep and train the actors as much as possible beforehand, so you come in ready. You must also have a very clear shot list with a storyboard, very much like an action movie, and cheat your way through shots that would be too technically demanding. Just like circus, cinema is all about creating an illusion. It was fun to have circus and cinema meet, and I intend to have the two worlds collide again.

Can you tell us more about your cinematic influences and why you sometimes went for an “old school” feel?
Zampano is the name of a character in La Strada. So, as you may have guessed, Fellini is a real inspiration, in that magical realism he brings to his works. I like drawing connections between the old and the new, and I felt like Zampano needed to have a timeless feel to it. The soundtrack works towards that, blending classic acoustic music for some scenes and metallic sound design for others.

It’s said you’re working on a film rooted in the circus world; will this be similar to Zampano, or will there be new stories?
I love you, fuck off is a 15-minute short film about two punk clowns in a chaotic romantic relationship, exploring co-dependence in a couple. The film is one long take during a performance night, following the couple behind the scenes and on stage as they destroy each other.

Ali Baba is a feature about Aliocha, a young man who runs away from home to join the circus and become a flying trapezist. He’s taken under the wing of Tony Truand, a charismatic catcher and the director of the company. He teaches Aliocha to fly and to trust again. But just as Aliocha finds his new family, his old one comes back to haunt him.