Balomania

In Balomania, a secret society of giant hot air balloon makers in Brazil's favelas risk everything to create and fly their illegal masterpieces. Dubbed as delinquents, these 'baloeiros' operate underground like street artists, bringing joy to their communities while evading government threats and bounty hunters. Director Sissel Morell Dargis shares her initiation into the balloon brotherhood, where launching silk paper creations becomes an act of social redemption and collective dreaming.

For almost ten years, Dargis has been part of one of the most closed off environments in the Latin American world. The authorities call them the balloon mafia and they rank just below the drug cartels within the law. She moves to Brazil, learns Portuguese and, through friends in the graffiti community, gains access to the balloon gangs in the favelas of São Paulo. Here, she meets poor Brazilians who see balloon art as their vital breathing space, their community and their cultural heritage. The balloons are sometimes over 70 meters high and require more than 100 men to be launched into the air.

In 1998, Brazil was the first country in the world to jail people for releasing hot air balloons. But instead of dying out, balloon culture went underground. Having been part of Brazil's cultural heritage since colonial times, balloons became increasingly popular in the favelas (shanty towns) and being a "baloeiro" is an identity proudly passed down through generations.

Today, thousands of balloon gangs represent an important alternative to the "real" gang violence that claims many lives every year. The law, however, punishes all balloon activities with up to three years in prison, based on the risk of fire and danger to air traffic and houses. Balloon art is not just one of Brazil's hidden treasures. It is also one of the most controversial.

Sissel Morell Dargis writes:

"I quickly found out that you couldn't mention it to people outside the environment, they got turned on in the wrong way. Furious. Who did I think I was, to show up and find the Brazilian balloon gangs to be so cool!?

Obviously, being as illegal as it is, it has created a real gang dynamic in the balloon world. A closed community, gang tattoos, closed parties, hierarchies, protection, etc. And in many ways, I have no doubt that many of us who are, or were part of the environment, were captured by what captures people the most in gangs. The community, the sense of a loyal family that will die for you.”