Balomania

In 1965, the artist Nam June Paik poetically referred to the moon as the very first television. In Balomania, the celestial screens are made on Earth from thousands of squares of multicoloured paper, and display familiar pop culture faces: The Karate Kid, Rocky Balboa, Christopher Reeve dressed as Superman. Taking place between the earth and sky of Brazil, the film tells the tale of a logistically complex underground culture: building, launching and chasing hot air balloons, which serve as giant canvases bearing images of popular heroes or religious figures. The business is time-consuming, punishable by imprisonment, and generates no financial gain for the people involved. Throughout the film, Sissel Morrell Dargis intimately documents the personalities of this irreverent and anti-establishment ecosystem: they include Jabà, who runs a balloon factory, and Ton, an expert in their pursuit. These journeys around the world or towards the moon are as ephemeral and fragile as the self-determination they embody.

Dimitri De Preux

Balomania, 2024
Cai Cai Balão, 2020
Plastico, 2017