THE FIFTH GENERATION

Daniel Berquiny, the founder of the “Parco Zoo delle Star”, takes care of trains and puts to rest animals; nevertheless one has the sensation that it is he who risks disappearing.
He was born into an old Romanian circus family that moved to Italy because they considered it to be the artist’s country. Daniel’s life is intertwined with the show and animals: he began working in the circus and ended up in the movies. A global relationship, made of sweat, labour and dedicated time.
And owing to the fact that the contemporary frantic society is not keen on cultivating any relationship with nature, Daniel is forced to resist. And he does so with his fierce look, his strong arms, the tigers and the camels living in the zoo-like refuge he has built.
At the age of sixty-three he teaches little Greta, his daughter of eight, to dance on horse. And as he watches her, he smiles melancholy. He wonders if it is right to transmit her a tradition that is bound to disappear. He wonders if his relationship with circus will be accepted by a little girl who’s growing in a new world. He wonders if the family name Berquiny will still be acclaimed by the public and will continue to be shared, for a fifth generation, with tigers and lions.