The sky lets go a solitary young man, and the story of Varekai begins. parachuted into the shadows of a magical forest, a kaleido-scopeic world imbued with fantastical creatures, a young man takes flight in an adventure both absurd and extraordinary. On this day at the edge of time, in this place of pure and undiluted possibility, begins an inspiried incantation to a life rediscovered and to a newly found wonder in the mysteries of the world and the mind.

cirque du soleil presents varekai, a productions conte iii inc. and serpent films ltd co-production. Executive Producers: marie cóté, vincent gagné and rocky oldham. Director: nick morris. Producers: martin bolduc, yolande riccioli.

• Multi-Angle performances — You get multi-angle performances from Icarian Games (6:09), Russian Swings (5:47) and Hand-balancing (7:16). Each of these gives you a choice of three different camera angles (overhead, full stage, and detail), and shows pretty much the entire act.


• In-Depth Interviews (about 20:00) — { Read }

  There are 7 short films all directed by Adrian Wills, featuring Anton Chelnokov and Olga Pikhienko (Lovers); John Gilkey and Rodrique Proteau (Characters); Roni Bello, Stiv Bello, Javier Santos Leal, Pedro Santos Leal, Ramon Santos Leal, Vasyl Besha, Serguei Gagarine, Irina Koliktsionova, Polina Lymareva, Ganna Ostapenko, and Andrei Yakovlev (Icarian Games); Badri Estatia, Temur Koridze, and Khvicha Tetvadze (Georgian Dance); and Sergiy Bobronvnyck, Oleg Ivanov, Maxim Levantsevich, Valentin Menjega, Romech Mourtazov, Vadim Padoleanu, and Serguei Rissouev (Russian Swings). They range from 2:30 to 5:00 each, and explain a little more about the artists’ motivations and history than we'd otherwise know.



• "Meet the Artists" — { Read }

  This shows artists in and out of makeup, stating their basic statistics (name / age / country / how long with Cirque, etc.). Some of them display a link to an "In Depth Interview" which can also be accessed separately. You can play them all straight though, or go to a specific act. Learn about: Claudio Carniero and Mooky Cornish (Clowns), He Bin, Li Siguang, and Yang Junping (Water Meteors); Helen Ball, Cinthia Beranek, Susanna Depraia Scalas, Raquel Karro, Stella Umeh, and Zoe Victoria Tedstill (Triple Trapeze); Vladimir Ignarenkov (Solo on Crutches); Tatiana Gousarova and Oleg Ouchakov (Acrobatic Pas De Deux); Andrew Atherton and Kevin Atherton (Aerial Straps); Octavio Alegria (Juggling); Alexei Anikine, Valerii Simonenko, Evgueni Tarakanov, Serguei Volodine, and Igor Zolotoukhine (Russian Swings); Mathieu Lavoie and Zara Tellander (Singers); and Michel Cyr, Brigitte Poudrier, Rapik Samman, Richard Drouin, Paul Bannerman, Carmen Piculeara, and Wayne Hankin (Musicians).



• "Making of an Angel" (45:00) — { Read }

  With many interviews, mostly from the Creative Team, the documentary goes through the entire creative process from initial steps to the premiere. There are several early concept designs and constructions we see here that didn’t make the final cut. We see bits of Gareth’s audition tape, and learn more about the projection Cloud. After the night of the premiere, we are treated to a long un-narrated moment of jubilation as the cast comes offstage, with ovations for the creative team, a wonderful moment only hinted at in “Fire Within.” This film, directed by Joclyn Bernabe and produced by Martin Bolduc makes a nice companion to “Fire Within" looking at it from the Creative Team’s point of view.



• Promos (5:10) — { Read }

  A one minute Varekai Show preview, one minute devoted to the various Cirque CD's, and a slide shot of the Varekai poster are here. Also, a 3:10 promo on various CDS Images productions. They make special mention of “Fire Within” and “Run Before You Fly”, and also mention the new variety series ("SOLSTROM").



• Fire Within Preview (23:00) — The first installment of the 13-episode series.

{ Columbia/Tri-Star Cover }

{ CDSi Cover }

Columbia/Tri-Star (2001-2007)

	• R01 (USA/Canada) Release Date — Oct.07.2003 Catalog — #01720 UPC — 0-43396-01720-7 ISBN — 1-4049-4024-3
	• R02 (Japan) Release Date — Oct.13.2005 Catalog — TSDD-34928 (1-Disc)
	• R04 (Australia) Release Date — Feb.11.2004 Catalog — N/A (1-Disc)
	• US/CAN (2003) Release Date — Oct.07.2003 Catalog — N/A (Full-Screen 4:3)

Cirque du Soleil Images (2007+)

• Region All (2015) Release Date — Mar.01.2015 Catalog — #518221 (CDS3-3201) UPC — 4-00005-18221-1