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  • The Black Balloon
The Safdie Brothers: Carte Blanche
The Black Balloon
Joshua & Benny Safdie
Drama | USA | 2011 | 20 min
SYNOPSIS
While trying to move forty kids six blocks in New York City alone, a stressed man accidentally loses a bouquet of a hundred balloons. In that bouquet, a lone black balloon scurries free. It dies and comes back to life, returning to the city cruising for a companion. On the beat, it learns that humans are complicated creatures with extreme highs and lows, but full of life nonetheless. An intended-for-children film turned sci-fi urban fable, this is a story about THE BLACK BALLOON.
CREDITS

Ben Safdie - Director
Joshua Safdie - Director
Ben Safdie - Screenplay
Joshua Safdie - Screenplay
Sam Lisenco - Producer
Ben Safdie - Editing
Joshua Safdie - Editing
Sean Price Williams - Director of Photography

CAST

Mustafa Bekiroglu
Kennon Bltut
Eleonore Hendricks
Francesca LaPrelle

About the directors

Josh and Benny Safdie, thirty and twentynine years old, were born and brought up in New York City, under the eye of their father’s Video 8 camera, filming them as they ate, fought, played, performed, drew, and even slept, showing them the importance of small moments in the height of chaos. All the while, their mother grounded them with stability. In high school, the brothers met Alex Kalman and started Red Bucket Films. This has become a playhouse of ideas with Sam Lisenco, Brett Jutkiewicz and Zachary Treitz. Over the years the brothers have collaborated on many shorts, both intellectually and technically: pushing and pulling each other constantly, with a fight here and there. This conversation bleeds onto their other work, Benny with his photography, and Josh with his drawings and sculptures. Their work has been on display at many international festivals including the Director’s Fortnight in Cannes, where Benny’s short film The Acquaintances of a Lonely John premiered and Josh’s first feature film, The Pleasure of Being Robbed had its International premiere. The film earned him Best First Film at the Mexico City International Film Festival and the Heineken Red Star Award. The film is available in the US through IFC Films and in France via Sophie Dulac Distribution. Lenny and the Kids is the first feature film co-written and directed by the two brothers. They live and work in New York, and will probably die there too.

FILM INFO
Year : 2011
Country : USA
Runtime : 20 min
Language : English
Colour : Colour