Movies
Sissel Morell Dargis
Balomania
Denmark, Spain 2024
93 min •
Portuguese. English subtitles
K16
Theme: Explosive
15.11.2024 | Time 20:00
| Venue: Tapio 4
| BUY TICKET
Deep in the Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo’s favelas live ‘baloeiros’ – balloon builders.
Balomania is all about creation, flight, and the chase of enormous hot air balloons as a treasured art form. It has been an essential part of their community and cultural heritage since colonial times. These tattooed, tough men have a deep love for hot air balloons, sometimes spending years meticulously gluing vibrant papers together to craft monumental creations that, when launched, paint the sky with incredible colors and images of heroes. Different baloeiro groups compete to produce the most beautiful, largest, and most striking balloons. However, Brazilian authorities have criminalized their art, placing baloeiros legally beneath drug cartels and driving their craft underground.
Danish-Spanish filmmaker Sissel Morell Dargis brings her camera into the secretive world of this so-called “balloon mafia.” With police and bounty hunters on their heels, these obsessive baloeiros take enormous risks to construct buildingsized balloons in secret, requiring up to 100 people to launch them into the sky. Balomania is an intimate and explosive real-life action film about finding freedom on society’s margins, challenging preconceived notions of favelas, gang life and the power of art.