Lucie Volhejnová

The history of famous Czech circus families is well known. However, even circus families are affected by the changing times, and so when Ferdinand, the father and ringmaster, bitterly complains that circuses used to stick together like a family, but today a family that sticks together is like a circus attraction, everyone has to think about how to save the international circus festival and, in fact, Circus Maximum itself.

This stylised short film follows the unexpected intertwining of the fates of a young man, who applies for housing benefit during the day, and the clerk who processes his application. When they meet by chance in a bar that evening and events take an unexpected turn, they both end up in his flat. During their late-night conversation, the clerk reveals the absurdity of her daily work at the office – a world full of nonsensical rules, powerlessness and alienation, which is disturbingly reminiscent of a Kafkaesque labyrinth. This intimate drama, laced with black humour, shows that the victims of bureaucracy are not only its clients, but also those who carry it out.