The Show of Shows
Synopsis
Director Benedikt Erlingsson takes us back to the days when the most outlandish, skillful and breathtaking acts traveled the world.
This rich visual archive has been created with exclusive access to The University of Sheffield’s National Fairground Archive and is accompanied by an epic new score by Georg Holm and Orri Páll Dýrason of Sigur Rós, in collaboration with Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson and Kjartan Dagur Holm.
Details
- Year
- 2015
- Type of film
- Features
- Running time
- 73 mins
- Director
-
Benedikt Erlingsson
- Producer
- Margret Jonasdottir, Heather Croall, Mark Atkin, Professor Vanessa Toulmin
- Composer
- Sigur Ros
Categories
Production Status
Production Company
Sagafilm
Laugavegi 176105 Reykjavik
Iceland
Crossover Labs
The Workstation,15 Paternoster Row,
Sheffield,
S1 2BX,
UK
T: +44 (0)114 276 5141
Sales Company
Dogwoof
19-23 Ironmonger RowLondon
EC1V 3QN
UK
Tel: 02072536244
Page updates
This page was last updated on 12th May 2025. Please let us know if we need to make any amendments or request edit access by clicking below.
See also
You may also be interested in other relevant projects in the database.

Director: Benedikt Erlingsson
Year: 2015
The story of itinerant circus performers, cabaret acts and fairground attractions. Rarities and never-before seen footage of fairgrounds, circus entertainment, freak shows, variety performances, music hall and seaside entertainment are chronicled from the 19th and 20th century - early shows that wowed the world and home movies of some of the greatest circus families at a time when the most outlandish, skillful and breathtaking acts traveled the world. Created in collaboration with The University of Sheffield’s National Fairground Archive.

Director: Hannah Berryman
Year: 2024
A landmark feature documentary about astronaut Eileen Collins, the first woman to pilot and command the Space Shuttle. Eileen’s incredible journey starts with her smalltown beginnings, sees her smash through many glass ceilings, and culminates in four dramatic space shuttle missions, the last being possibly the most dangerous and most important of them all. At its heart the film is the moving human drama of one family, where a mother’s extraordinary career takes us straight to the big philosophical question of what is the level of acceptable risk in human endeavour? This film celebrates Commander Collins’ trailblazing NASA career which opened the way for women to become spacecraft pilots and commanders, and proved a perfect riposte to a previous generation of male astronauts who thought there was no place for women to lead the way in space. Official Selection DOC NYC 2024 - World premiere Official Selection CPH:DOX 2025 - European premiere

Director: Barney Douglas
Year: 2026
The extraordinary story of Richard “Ric” O’Barry, once the world’s highest-paid dolphin trainer, now their most passionate defender, risking his life and liberty to free these remarkable creatures from captivity. In the 1960s, Ric was America’s leading dolphin trainer at the Miami Seaquarium and the celebrated trainer behind the hit TV series Flipper, whose smiling stars enchanted a generation. Everything changed after the apparent suicide of one of the show’s dolphins, Kathie - a moment that shattered his beliefs and set him on a radical path from insider to activist. For over 50 years, Ric has led a global campaign against dolphin captivity. As founder of Dolphin Project, he has risked arrest, injury, and personal loss to rescue dolphins and expose the industry’s darkest secrets. Both celebrated and criticised, he remains steadfast that every captive dolphin can be returned to the wild. Told through intimate family access, joyous underwater imagery, and covert filming, Ric’s mission has transformed a non-issue into a global movement. Now 85, he must ask: after a lifetime spent freeing others, can he finally set himself free?