The Tight Rope tells the story of the Aztlán Circus, which is as small as the family that comprises it: Marce (57); his wife, Adriana (55); their two children; Mario (18) and Jacqueline (31); and the latter’s boyfriend, Carmelo (18). They all roam the villages around Texcoco, on the northern outskirts of Mexico City. The father, Marce, is the descendent of circus artists who were, themselves, descendents of circus artists going back for seven generations, transmitting their art from parents to children. They live in a dilapidated, narrow camper, painted sky blue, which tows an old trailer. The only animals they have are two little dogs painted bright pink that do somersaults, two goats, a horse and an ostrich.
Said at Visions du Réel 2010: Set in the world of a travelling circus, this film is instinctive and fluent in its pure cinematographic approach. The filmmaker’s way of looking at the characters is tender and human, which at times moves the story from a world of conventional documentary to a world of magic realism. It is a moment of grace.
In his film company dokumentar.no Lie has since 2008 been working as a film director, cinematographer and producer for documentaries. He works with the new Canon EOS 5D/7D with HD film, and edits in Apple's Final cut.
With Haiti mon Amour (Kjære Haiti, hva nå?) Lie went to Port-au-Prince after the earthqake with Ole Paus and others. We followed the money collected by the norwegian consert Dugnad for Haiti and NRK, and then given to Red Cross, Church Aid and UNICEF. It is edited as a low budget film essay, an montage of images. (se video below)
He has since 2007 worked on a documentary portrait – The Seduced Human – Jørgten Leth and Haiti on the danish renowned filmmaker Jørgen Leth (2011). This one-hour documentary is financed so far by the Norwegian Film Institute with 720 000 kroner – and will be released in 2011. (se video below)
Lie is also editor-in-chief for DOX, the leading European quarterly magazine for documentary films, published by the European Documentary Network. See PDFs of the last magaines below.
Lie has been the editor-in-chief and publisher for Morgenbladet between 1993-2003, and has been editor-in-chief/publisher of the Nordic edition of the monthly newspaper Le Monde diplomatique between 2003-08, where he now is still the publisher and regulary film critic.
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