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Speaker 1: And Amanda jam Nation.

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Speaker 2: I came across a family recently called the Bells. They've

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Speaker 2: been touring Australia for over one hundred years and been

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Speaker 2: battling not just to keep Australia's oldest carnival show on

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Speaker 2: the road, but to keep the family's legacy alive. Tonight,

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Speaker 2: producer and director Isabelle Darling releases her releases a docco

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Speaker 2: a show about her past seven years on the road

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Speaker 2: with this family. The documentary is called The Carnival and

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Speaker 2: isabel joins us Now, Hello, Hello, thanks for having me.

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Speaker 3: Great to talk to you.

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Speaker 2: Is about It's so fascinating, isn't it that all that

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Speaker 2: stuff when you're a kid about running away and joining

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Speaker 2: the circus. What's the inside of living with a circus?

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Speaker 1: Like, Oh, it's fun, It's really fun. It's a lot

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Speaker 1: of hard work. They're the hardest workers I've ever known,

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Speaker 1: ever seen, But they have a lot of fun. They

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Speaker 1: have a lot of family time and a lot of

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Speaker 1: togetherness as they sort of roll around the country and people.

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Speaker 2: Still have an ape an appetite for seeing circuses and

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Speaker 2: seeing before almost like.

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Speaker 1: This, well, this is this is more a carnival, So

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Speaker 1: this is more about the rides, and there's sort of

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Speaker 1: the side shows and all that sort of entertainment. Circuses

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Speaker 1: and carnivals are still very popular. I think that because

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Speaker 1: they're unique and they roll into town once a year.

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Speaker 1: That's the novelty. I think. If it was any more

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Speaker 1: than that, you know, people go, you know, I'll go

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Speaker 1: in six months. But because it's that once a year

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Speaker 1: sort of festival feeling, and you know, it's the coming

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Speaker 1: together of community, and you go down to the show

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Speaker 1: and you bump into people you know, and it's just

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Speaker 1: that atmosphere. I think I think that's what really keeps

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Speaker 1: people going back.

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Speaker 3: A lot of the times when you go to those carnivals,

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Speaker 3: you think they've got some sort of ride and it

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Speaker 3: looks like it's just held to get together with cable

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Speaker 3: ties and masking tape, and you think, I'm not going

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Speaker 3: on that thing. That is that the case with the rides,

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Speaker 3: has their maintenances more or less at all?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, not at all. I know what you mean. Some

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Speaker 1: of the rides are really scary, but they do so

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Speaker 1: much maintenance. I saw over the years just the amount

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Speaker 1: of paperwork and you know, the bureaucracy they've got to

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Speaker 1: deal with. And you know insurances, they've got so many

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Speaker 1: insurance problems at the moment, with insurance companies leaving Australia.

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Speaker 1: You know, there's lots of issues. But because it's the

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Speaker 1: same people operating the rides all the time, they know

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Speaker 1: every every sound it makes. They know when something has

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Speaker 1: gone maybe a little bit wrong, they'll shut it down.

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Speaker 1: You know, it's actually a really safe operation. So yeah,

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Speaker 1: nothing to worry about there.

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Speaker 2: If you're born into a carnival family, is it inevitable

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Speaker 2: you end up being part of that carnival? Is there

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Speaker 2: a can kids opt out?

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Speaker 1: Well? That's that's what I found really fascinating when I

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Speaker 1: got to know the family. I've found this kind of

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Speaker 1: this unspoken succession plan that they had in place. It

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Speaker 1: was almost like a little it's like a dynasty. It's

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Speaker 1: like a monarchy, you know, there's this handing down of

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Speaker 1: the reins to the well really the next boy in line.

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Speaker 1: And when I met them, the kids were teenagers and

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Speaker 1: they didn't really know what they wanted. So there was

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Speaker 1: this really interesting transition to watch the kids kind of

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Speaker 1: grow into adults and you know, watch whould they become

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Speaker 1: and see how the pressures of family really, you know,

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Speaker 1: take their toll on them. Lots of things going on

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Speaker 1: in this in this world, but yeah, there's definitely this

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Speaker 1: kind of handing down and we get to see that

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Speaker 1: fully fleshed out in the film.

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Speaker 3: It must have been hard because you would have grown

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Speaker 3: quite close to them doing it for seven years, but

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Speaker 3: at the same time you're making a documentary which you

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Speaker 3: want to be entertaining as well. So was that hard

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Speaker 3: in the editing process?

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Speaker 1: It was, Actually, yeah, it was. It was hard. And

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Speaker 1: I tried through the years to keep explaining to the

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Speaker 1: family that, you know, I'm not making a documentary on

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Speaker 1: the history of carnivals. I'm making something much more about

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Speaker 1: the characters. And I had to say, you know, this

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Speaker 1: is about you. This is about your families, about your

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Speaker 1: arguments and your love for each other, and you know,

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Speaker 1: the ups and downs. And I had to really encourage

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Speaker 1: them to be sort of warts and all. And I

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Speaker 1: think because I have a life and a personal life

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Speaker 1: and was transparent with them about things, we all had

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Speaker 1: to be sort of vulnerable with each other and there

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Speaker 1: was a lot of trust there. Yeah, you know, I

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Speaker 1: had to sort of keep refreshing them, but they were

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Speaker 1: so open to it. They were so giving with their time.

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Speaker 1: I think they thought I was a bit of a

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Speaker 1: pest at times. But in the end, you know, they've

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Speaker 1: seen what we've made, and we had to make some

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Speaker 1: tough decisions in the edit. There were some things that

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Speaker 1: we chose to leave out, some things that we decided

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Speaker 1: to leave in, and we had to explain to some

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Speaker 1: of our cast, you know, this is why we've chosen

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Speaker 1: to do this, and they got it and they loved

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Speaker 1: the film, so we're happy.

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Speaker 2: You know, the stereotype of the Karni is kind of

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Speaker 2: the toothless hic if this is sort of the stereotype,

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Speaker 2: as I say, how far away are the bills from that?

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Speaker 1: Oh? Look, that's why I wanted to make the film,

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Speaker 1: because we've all got that impression, don't we. You know,

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Speaker 1: it's in the sort of media, you know, the simptoms

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Speaker 1: and everything. And I was just so curious about who

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Speaker 1: they really are and what they're like and how they operate.

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Speaker 1: And I was mostly curious about where they come from

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Speaker 1: and where they go because they just seemed to disappear

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Speaker 1: every year. So yeah, look there. I think the point

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Speaker 1: of the film really is to show that they're they're

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Speaker 1: just like any other Australian family. They've got the same

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Speaker 1: battles and challenges and the same love for each other.

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Speaker 1: And they're just operating a business like lots of other

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Speaker 1: Australian families. And they've got lots of lots of challenges

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Speaker 1: that they're facing, but some very different ones. You know,

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Speaker 1: they're battling weather and you know, fuel prices and all

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Speaker 1: sorts of things. Insurance of course. So yeah, they're a

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Speaker 1: lovely family. I was very lucky to come across such

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Speaker 1: a nice family.

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Speaker 3: You must have won a lot of stuffed animals in

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Speaker 3: the sideshow alley.

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Speaker 1: I've actually enjoyed running.

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Speaker 3: Some of those games because it's all you know what

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Speaker 3: it is. We call it in the trade. It's gettable

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Speaker 3: hard So you look at it and I could get that,

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Speaker 3: but you can't get it.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right, like The Hangman where you risked tough

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Speaker 1: to be double jointed. Yeah. No, it's a lot of fun.

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Speaker 3: You're not saying too much.

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Speaker 2: There are what happens on roads.

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Speaker 3: That's that's the mystery. That's what part of it is.

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Speaker 3: And it looks fascinating. The Cannibal is on tonight at

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Speaker 3: eight forty on SBS and SBS demand, Isabelle Darling, thank.

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Speaker 1: You, thank you. It's on tomorrow night.

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Speaker 3: Tomorrow night, okay, well we'll have someone sacked and killed

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Speaker 3: for giving us the wrong information, or.

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Speaker 2: We can just put it right information instant. Thank you, Isabelle.

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Speaker 1: Thanks guys, thank you, Thank you, Isabelle,