'The Carnival' takes us into the world of touring sideshows

Presented as part of the third season of Australia Uncovered, 'The Carnival' goes on the road and across Australia with the Bell family, who have worked sideshow alley for generations.

A middle-aged man in a blue shirt with the word Bell and a row of 5 stars above one pocket stands in front of three other people, including a young man and woman. Behind the four people, sideshow attachtions with bright lights can be seen.

The Bell family share their life on the road in 'The Carnival'. Credit: Sideshow Films

There can’t be too many long-term Australians who haven’t tried their luck on the laughing clowns or tested their courage (and stomach) on the gravity-defying Ranger or Sizzler. Whether at the Sydney Royal Easter Show or your local agricultural show, the rides and attractions of Sideshow Alley have delighted punters for generations. Now a new documentary takes us behind the alley and into the lives of the people who run it.

Shot over the course of seven years, The Carnival introduces us to the Bell family, who for generations have criss-crossed the country, providing thrills and spectacle to crowds in almost every corner of Australia. Under the leadership of patriarch Elwin, the Bells follow an annual circuit that takes them from Adelaide to Darwin and back again, meandering through a vast swathe of Eastern Australia, following much the same route as previous generations.

A man in a check shirt stands in front of a merry-go-round.

The Carnival: Elwin Bell. Credit: George Fetting

Life as a “showie” – “carnie” is an Americanism – can be tough, but recent years have seen the Bells face unprecedented challenges: the Black Summer bush fires, the COVID pandemic and attendant lockdown and travel restrictions. But showies are a tight-knit community, even outside of immediate family – at one point we see Elwin’s wife, Selina, a seventh-generation carnival worker, preparing Christmas lunch for 80 guests. That sense of camaraderie is what gets them through the tough times.

But it can make them insular, as director Isabel Darling found when she approached their pitch in Batemans Bay to ask about filming them.

“It was a bit intimidating,” she recalls, looking back on for first meeting with Elwin. “He was standing there, arms folded, and I was just some stranger asking to be let in.”

Soon, however, she was welcomed into the fold, and spent several years travelling off and on with the Bells, who average one or two locations a week on their endless cross-continental journey. Once you’re in, you’re in – we meet people with addiction issues who have found stability and acceptance in the seemingly haphazard showie life, and an evening campfire singalong after a hard day’s work amply demonstrates the broad cross-section of characters drawn to the itinerant sideshow life.

Four women sit outdoors, around a wood fire. A mobile home can be seen behind them.

'The Carnival' goes beyond sideshow alley to the lives of those who work to bring the attractions to locations around Australia. Credit: Sideshow Films

But it’s generally a world you’re born into, as Elwin was – he tells the tale of his own entry into the world, born three months premature near Biloela in 1969, far from decent medical care. He made it, obviously, and flourished – old home movies give us a window into an earlier time that, smartphones aside, isn’t too dissimilar from modern showie life – but it does demonstrate that life on the road means you’re often far from amenities and infrastructure that stay-in-place types typically take for granted.

His own children, also born to the life, have had mixed feelings about it. Elder son Leroy is now an electrician who prefers the comforts of suburbia. Daughter Elle briefly went to university in Newcastle before returning to the showie world, and laments the difficulties involved in finding a romantic partner when you’re in a new town every week. “It’s like a running joke in our family that I’m gonna be single forever,” she notes at one point.

Two young people stand in front of a sideshow ally attractions.

The documentary follows the family, including Elle and Roy Bell, for seven years. Credit: Sideshow Films

And then there’s Roy, named for his grandfather who ran a boxing tent back in the day before new regulations introduced in the ‘70s put an end to fighting under the canvas. A cheeky 15-year-old when we first meet him, Roy has a baby with fiancée Caitlin by the time the credits roll, and is running his own rides. Roy grew up not only on showgrounds, but in director Isabel Darling’s lens.

“I was just a little kid running amok,” he remembers. “All of a sudden there was this good-looking girl with a camera, so I just played up for her.”

Despite the hardships, the sense of freedom is palpable, and so too is the appeal of life on the road.

“I’ve definitely been tempted to run away with them,” Darling admits, noting that the film shows “…incredible landscapes, such beautiful parts of Australia that you don’t normally get to see.”

Still, for Roy, the biggest challenge facing him is getting reliable help. “I’ve only got one bloke working with me now! So, if you know anyone looking for work, get ‘em to give me a call.”

For all that showie life may look tempting, it seems not many have the grit to commit to the bit.

The Carnival is the third documentary in the latest season of Australia Uncovered. See it Thursday 22 February on SBS and SBS On Demand from 8:40pm. The first two films, Hitler's Jewish Soldier? and Last Chance to Save a Life are now streaming at SBS on Demand, with the fourth film, Psychadelics: Stepping into the Unknown, on SBS and SBS On Demand 8:40pm on 29 February.