1956) Six-year old petit garçon Pascal Lamorisse (son of the director) and the biggest, shiniest ballon rouge ever — 25,000 were used during shooting — share near dialogue-less adventures tagging after each other through the old Belleville section of Paris. Perhaps the most acclaimed short film of all time, Red Balloon won the Palme d’Or for court métrage at Cannes and the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, making it the only short ever given an Oscar for a feature category and beating out such contenders as The Ladykillers and La Strada! Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien’s new film Flight of the Red Balloon is an homage to Lamorisse’s masterpiece. “Cinematographer Edmond Séchan’s color photography of the Parisian streets is truly revelatory — as luminous as Eugène Atget’s old daguerreotypes — and the film itself is both sophisticated and naive, childlike and artistically mature. It’s an unalloyed joy.” – The Isthmus.

“One of the most beautiful films ever made!” – Pauline Kael

“Lamorisse’s rarely seen, haunting story of a young boy’s fascination
with a wild, white-haired horse in the south of France is arguably even more beautiful.”
– New York magazine

(1952, ALBERT LAMORISSE) In the rugged Camargue region of Provence, French cowboys corral wild horses, but the one that they can’t master is their leader, White Mane. Maybe young fisherman Alain Emery can... But if he does, where can they go? Dazzling black and white photography, hairraising stunts and action, leading to a mythic/tragic climax. Winner of the Cannes Grand Prix for short film. Presented in a new English translation, faithful to the original French voiceover and dialogue, spoken by Peter Strauss.

“An extraordinary filmmaker, a remarkable artist and one of the cinema’s best poets…
Both pictures have the economy, the clarity of purpose and the pleasing symmetry of a sonnet.”
– Terrence Rafferty, The New York Times. Click here to read feature

“The essence of kids’ everyday thoughts, these two French bonbons from the ‘50s speak a quiet, private language to the young. (They can also have an effect on certain critics.) …These are films in which imagination conquers all, including the adult world. Heroes float away on the wind or the sea. Children need to feel that power, in order to properly grow into it.”
– Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out New York

“Gorgeously restored! Escape fantasies that pay homage to the inventiveness of children.”
– Ella Taylor, The Village Voice. Click here to read review

“The [restored] delicate color of The Red Balloon… heightens the contrast between the muted loveliness of Paris streets (it always looks like first light, somehow) and the bold, stunningly incongruous red of the title object. In a less vibrant print The Red Balloon would still be touching and ingenious, but it wouldn’t be half as funny… White Mane is no less carefully composed than its better-known successor: both pictures have the economy, the clarity of purpose and the pleasing symmetry of a sonnet.”
– Terrence Rafferty, The New York Times

“See them together again, and be sure to bring the kids!” – New York magazine

BOTH RELEASED BY JANUS FILMS.
Total running time: approx. 72 min.

For sale at Amazon:

THE RED BALLOON, book by Albert Lamorisse