Rob Munday

The human body can do wonderful things, but with age some of those things will only get harder. For Sebastién, the oldest acrobat in his circus troupe, he’s started to realise that his time as a performer might be coming to an end and is left to ponder what he will do once his adrenaline-fuelled career is over. Eager to capture this turning point on camera, Jay Bedwani’s largely-observational doc Stretch, allows us to spend time in the company of the charming entertainer as he considers one of the most important decisions of his life.

Introducing us to Sebastién as he runs through a series of stretches, for the first minute of the short the camera stays close to the acrobat’s tanned and tattooed body, the shots soundtracked by a repetitive heartbeat and deep breathing. It’s a visually appealing sequence, but it also serves an important purpose. Stretch may be a film centred around this one performer and his very specific situation, but this is a film all about the limitations of the human body and the universal themes of ageing and mortality. 

“I was trying to keep the dialogue down to a minimum – a new challenge for me – and quietly observe Seb as he performed” – Bedwani on his approach for Stretch

“Sebastién lives a life of relative freedom, and excitement”, Bedwani explains as we discuss the motivation behind his short. “Free from the constraints that many of us have; such as family commitments and work routines, he was fulfilling all the ambitions he had dreamed of when he was a young boy. Now facing the end of his career as a performer, he was considering what would happen when he had to stop doing the only thing he knows. I wanted to capture this period on film, and encourage an audience to think about the major changes we all face in our their own lives”.

We’ll all face similar moments in our lives, they may not be as extreme as Sebastién’s – for who giving up the circus is not just leaving his job, but like leaving a family – but it’s easy to relate to his situation and this is where a lot of the impact of Stretch lands. As we get older, as individuals we have to reconsider what’s still possible, maybe it’ll be something small like giving up a hobby or something bigger, like changing jobs, but these are the cards that ageing deals us, and we have to accept them or things will get pretty miserable.

“Filming at the top of the trapeze was pretty exciting – and terrifying – but the acrobats had my back, and I got the shots I wanted, even if they were a little shaky!” – Bedwani on getting some of the trickier shots in Stretch

For Sebastién you can see he has mixed feeling regarding this possible change, he comes across as man who has lived his life exactly as he wanted to, so far, but openly admits he has “no idea what I can do if I stop”. His care-free attitude is surely going to be challenged by this decision and seeing him struggle makes Stretch an empathetic experience. But this isn’t a story of doom and gloom, not at all, we may be witnessing a career come to an end, but getting to spend time with Sebastién, and his troupe family, is a life-affirming experience. Bedwani could have easily made this a film that laments the human condition, but instead it feels like a real celebration of life and a reminder that we should all try to live it to the fullest.

Developed at the Scottish Documentary Institute, Bedwani shot Stretch himself, armed with a Sony FS7, a couple of prime lenses and “not much else”. Created in 2018, the short played a host of film festivals and ever since seeing it I’ve been badgering the director and his producer Dewi Gregory (Truth Department) to let us have it for Short of the Week. It took a little longer than we all wanted to get it on our platform, but I’m happy we finally get to share the online premiere of Stretch with our audience.