Anyone heard anything about this?

Michael Knox, 35, lived with the circus as a child. For several summers in elementary school, Knox traveled with the Clyde Beatty Cole Bros. Circus, riding elephants, helping put up tents and making cotton candy.

His family worked for the circus, serving in every position from welder to clown.

When Knox learned that the circus was in danger of closing, he did what he could to help save it.

He made a movie.

“This was the best part of my childhood,” said Knox, an Asheville filmmaker.

His first full-length feature film, a documentary called “Tearing Down the Tent,” will debut at the Modern Film Fest at the Gem Theatre in downtown Kannapolis.

http://www.salisburypost.com/Area/091509-new-modern-film-fest-gem-theatre-story

This is the first I’ve heard of the film. Sounds like a pretty cool idea for a documentary, though.

An excerpt from it ran at last year’s Asheville Film Festival. I haven’t seen it, even though Knox gave me a copy (which someone moved to an undisclosed—to me—location). I’ve little idea of the actual content, but Justin saw part of a screening and said it looked pretty slickly made.

Hey Steve, I am the actual director of “Tearing Down the Tent.” I worked in the Charlotte area as a reporter for 10 years before starting a film production company in Asheville and directing the documentary which is about the circus I travled with as a child. My friend, Jamie Reel, who is a bartender at Asheville’s Yaht Club, ran away and joined the circus for a week when we filmed in Wilmington.

I screened the first 30 minutes during the Asheville Film Festival in 2008, when I volunteered as a film recruiter, securing the movies, “Sita Sings the Blues,” “Bart Got a Room,” “Being Michael Madsen,” and other films.

That experience encouraged me to take on a bigger challenge and start a film festival from scratch, working in Kannapolis where I was a reporter for five years. The event, Modern Film Fest, will be held at the historic Gem Theatre and will include the screening of my film.

For more information on the festival visit http://www.modernfilmfest.net

Also, if you are interested in learning more about “Tearing Down the Tent,” visit

http://www.changingelevations.com/pages/tearingDownTheTent.html or

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1080587946937

Thank you for your interest and hope to bring the full feature film to Asheville very soon.

Cool! Thanks for all the info. Please let Xpress know as soon as you have a local screening booked.

I will Steve and thanks for the interest. Really had a blast with making the movie and organizing the fest. Take care and thanks, Mike

How historic is the Gem Theatre? Well, it was the theater where I saw my first movie.

How wide is that dude’s username? Wide enough to fork up the page.

:)

Hey Steve, just wanted to let you know that “Tearing Down the Tent” will be screening as a part of this year’s Asheville Film Festival.

The movie will screen at 1 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 15, in the lower portion of the Fine Arts Theatre.

Again thank you for your interest and take care. Mike