https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSzDsvJE1mg
Artwork: The Red Balloon (Le Ballon Rouge)
Artist: Albert Lamorisse
About the Artwork:
Lamorisse’s films embody adventure, the innocence of youth, and the oppressive forces of life that try to steal it away, and none better capture this than The Red Balloon.
The short film follows Pascal, an inquisitive Parisian boy who discovers a red balloon tied to a pole. From its perfect spherical shape and bright red colour, it’s obvious the balloon is not ordinary toy even before it reveals an intelligence of its own, following Pascal through the streets.
Fitting with the film’s themes, it is sadly fitting that the Belleville area in which the film was shot was demolished some years later. Part of the region – once blooming with the kind of historic charm only found in the oldest places in Europe – was built up for housing projects. The rest remained as wasteland for over two decades.
Upon release in 1956, The Red Balloon went on to win several major international film awards, including the Golden Palm at Cannes Film Festival, and the Best Original Screenplay at the 29th Academy Awards. Beating out screenplays by such esteemed writers as Federico Fellini and William Rose, Lamorisse’s screenplay marks the only time a short film has won an Oscar outside of the Best Short Film category.
If you enjoy the short, be sure to check out Stowaway in the Sky (Le Voyage en Ballon), the full-length sequel that marked Lamorisse’s feature debut.