Prime Video presents EL CIRCO DE LOS MUCHACHACHOS at FesTVal

Prime Video has presented in the context of FesTVal in Vitoria the documentary El Circo de los Muchachos, produced by Vaca Films and directed by Elías León Siminiani.

It is a docuseries about the unusual but true story of the utopia created by the priest Jesús Silva, which transformed the lives of hundreds of underprivileged children who went from the streets of Galicia to perform at Madison Square Garden, creating an independent artistic city that achieved glory and ended amid controversy and rebellion.

This project tells the incredible story of Father Jesús Silva, known as “el Cura”, who created out of nothing a city and educational project for street children without resources in Franco’s Spain in 1956 in Benposta, a small neighborhood in the outskirts of Ourense (Galicia). Silva created a nation of children, with its own currency, passport and even customs, governed by children, and with the approval of the Francoist government and church, where in the midst of the dictatorship they had democratic processes to elect their mayors. As time went by, Benposta became a city impregnated with art, education and illusion and Silva founded “El Circo de los Muchachos”, a fascinating show that took these children without resources all over the world, impressing the public with their circus skills, even filling New York’s Madison Square Garden.

The Boys’ Town attracted the attention of sociologists, pedagogues and art experts from all over the world. However, over time, it was peppered by external and internal political conflicts, having to face controversies and rebellions that led Father Silva’s megalomaniacal management to decline.

Produced by Vaca Films, founded by Borja Pena and Emma Lustres, El Circo de los Muchachos will feature five 50-minute episodes, created from a combination of unpublished material and interviews and a unique archive that covers more than 50 years of history, including footage recorded from the very television studio created in Benposta.