Balomania (DOK Leipzig Sommerkino)

In the organizer's words:

From June 26 to August 7, we will be showing four audience favorites from the last festival program - in the open air and on the big screen. Discover the whole program here.

A huge, glowing structure with the face of Rocky Balboa moves through the night, mysterious and as if from another world. Only gradually does its actual size reveal itself. Sissel Morell Dargis tells the incredible story of the "Baloeiros", an underground culture in the heart of Brazil's favelas. These loose groups have dedicated themselves to building, launching and chasing hot air balloons. That doesn't sound particularly spectacular? Anyone who sees the gigantic objects made of fine tissue paper, which often depict popular figures such as the Karate Kid or Superman, will be amazed! Such a balloon launch, which is sometimes preceded by years of welding and gluing in secret workshops, is not only a logistically complex undertaking. It is also dangerous. The "baloeiros", who don't earn a centavo from their passion, are prosecuted as a criminal organization.
It takes quite a while for Morell Dargis to gain the trust of this hidden community. The balloons also serve as a metaphor for a country that finds itself in a politically fragile and deadlocked situation in which those on the fringes of society can hardly insist on their rights. An intimate, multi-layered and action-packed film that turns conventional ideas about life in the favelas on their head.

A documentary film by Sissel Morell Dargis

Length: 93 minutes

Language: OmeU - Portuguese (Brazil), English with English subtitles