A journalist by trade for the Chicago Tribune and national magazines, Jane Burek drew on her filmmaking/video background to direct and produce FREAKY CIRCUS GUY. Other works include a 16mm short and a series of children's videos in Spanish and Japanese. Currently she is a creative for a direct marketing firm.
 
FREAKY CIRCUS GUY began when one of Burek's acquaintances, who knew that she was a long-time circus aficionado, suggested that she meet a friend who had an unusual home. That initial meeting with eccentric collector Ken Harck was the start of a freaky adventure that eventually became this 60-minute documentary.
 
For two years, Burek collected extensive high-definition video footage of Harck’s circus photo, lithograph and historical film footage. "I was in the middle of editing last spring when Ken called me up. He said he wanted to live inside an Edward J. Kelty photo. I asked what he meant, and he told me to come to New Jersey with a camera and find out." That footage became the second half of the documentary—when Harck's obsession with the circus comes alive in the 1920s sideshow. Soon Burek and a cameraman were on a stormy pier overlooking the Atlantic Ocean on the New Jersey boardwalk with The Enigma and Katzen the Tiger Lady. "I enjoyed every minute," says Burek. "The sideshow is a wickedly weird feast for the eyes."  
 
WARNING: FREAKY CIRCUS GUY is not for the meek. According to Burek, "it's a vibrant and beautiful world of gypsies, freaks and glamazon women but some of the stunts in the sideshow are grotesque and tasteless. I hope that the most memorable part is the way Ken's collection and sideshow brings this era to life. It's the only authentic show of its kind currently in existence. Perhaps it can inspire those who see it to make the extra effort that it takes to seek out a bit more art and poetry from the past…and live a little more dangerously." 
 
Click here to watch the FREAKY CIRCUS GUY on-line trailer.