Balloon-making and balloon-chasing comes from a marginal sub-culture in Brazil which values artistic style and size and creates both loyalty and competition. It can be compared to Low Rider cars in California, except that since 1998 it’s illegal and viewed with disapproval by many people, who wrongly associate it with drug-related activities. 

Samba and Carnaval were once illegal too, but are now big tourist draws, and balloon-making is an accepted cultural expression in Mexico and other countries.

Sissel Morell Dargis is a Danish filmmaker who graduated as a Game Director from the Danish National Film School, and has released several games including Cai Cai Balão which is a crossover with the film and its characters, and has won prizes in the US and Latin America. She began with an interest in painting graffiti and founded a community project in the Rocinho favela in Rio, now run by local people, which encourages exchanges and cultural activities involving both people who live there and outsiders. Balomania is her first full-length film, which grew organically from contacts among graffiti artists she made while in Brazil.

The cultural significance of ballooning was very clear in her film, when one guy compared the feeling when a balloon rises into the air to falling in love.

Another baloeiro quoted a famous phrase from the poet Raul Seixas: “The dream of the conformist is the reality of the crazy person”, an anarchist philosophical reflection about conformist society. 

In the film people were willing to show their faces, which wouldn’t be the case if they were part of a criminal mafia. Everyone felt themselves part of the same mission - to document and demystify the baloeiro culture, so wearing masks was not an option.

I talked with Sissel for Latinolife after her film Balomania was shown at Doclisboa last month. 

The images here are provided with permission by the filmmaker.

You have an interesting multicultural and multimedia background including graffiti and video games. Can you tell us why you wanted to make this film?

At the beginning I was making and photographing graffiti and working on other urban art events. When I saw the balloons, ephemeral like graffiti – these things are only alive for brief seconds, and the culture could disappear so easily - it suddenly felt more urgent: “it needs to be filmed and I’m here now.” 

Missa balloon

No-one makes money from ballooning; in fact, it costs them a lot – so why does it have the popular reputation of being run by a mafia?

It’s an art form that has been marginalised so it can only exist in marginalised places. The police will not go into the favelas so much, so they became places where balloons can be released more easily. However, favelas have had to find their own ways to survive in a very unequal society where most of their residents don’t have access to public funds or education. It’s like talking about a football team from a high-crime area – does that mean they are automatically involved in the crime too? 

It is mostly a closed world, dominated by men. Was it difficult to convince them that you were genuine and making a film about them was a good idea?

It was like a chain of steps. The first step was not about being a woman but that “you are not part of our group”. I was lucky to have some people who were important enough to vouch for me that I wasn’t a cop. Then it was more a question of proving myself tough enough to handle some of the physically demanding tasks that ballooning involves. You need to leave in the middle of the night sometimes to only come back days later, travel long distances and get little sleep for days, and if you have your period forget it, no-one cares and no-one wants to know. There were many times they were looking for reasons to say: “You can’t join”, but they gradually began to understand that no-one can say if ballooning will continue with all the new restrictions by the police and government, and a film could let their kids see what the balloon culture was like. 

Beyond the question of girls not being tough enough - these people are part of a community with very strong values. And I simply needed their protection to be able to continue, it was much safer to be with them than in many situations, even compared to Europe, because in the end it’s about who has your back. I got the brothers that I never had, and that was beautiful for me.

Can you say more about the roots of the tradition, did it have a name, and does it have religious connotations?

There are different theories. There are connections to China, where the rulers would use balloons to scare off their enemies. The Aztecs in Mexico used to make balloons with palm leaves and natural rice glue, which were powered by fire, and there is still a vibrant balloon culture among the indigenous peoples in Mexico.  In Spain on San Roque every year they release the famous Globo de Betanzos which is made in the same way as the Brazilian balloons. It’s legal and supported by the government.  In Brazil too it was restricted to the days of Festa Juninha which is a celebration of the catholic saints, São Joao, Santo Antonio.  The balloons were small, simple manageable ways of creating something extraordinary for your community and family, and if you were a good craftsman, you could make more and more extraordinary balloons with very little. That is also partly the reason why it became so popular in the working classes. Later the balloons became bigger and bigger, and the significance widened to all kinds of topics, tributes and celebrations. 

Samba was also illegal many years ago and so was Carnival. It was linked to the Afro-Brazilians, and the culture of ex-slaves. But later Samba was accepted and became one of the biggest money-making things in Brazil, because it became more structured, and they found a way for it to be accessible to more people in Brazil. 

Sea rescue of falling balloon

Two types of balloons were mentioned, Montgolfier and Truff, what’s the difference?

There are many types, but in the Brazilian balloon culture they developed a certain shape that is only seen in Brazil, now slowly spreading to places like Colombia and Mexico, because balloon people internationally are beginning to connect more over the internet and share knowledge.  It’s called the Pião, which is a normal balloon shape with a hat on top, like a mushroom shape. Modelado is classical with one pointy spike on top; Montgolfier is a classical imitation of the French Montgolfier but with a big cardboard biscuit around it; Bagda is like a Modelado balloon but stretched out into a shape like an Arabic tower; Truff means it has no spike point on top, it’s round, like a bald head.  Ilama is the one I am obsessed with at the moment, they originally come from Mexico and Colombia. The word Ilama comes from the fruit that grows in the Vera Cruz region of Mexico. It looks like a star with many spikes. 

This culture is only known in São Paulo and Curitiba?

And in Rio too. I was there for six months before I heard about it; people don’t talk about it because on the news they are telling people to snitch on anyone they know who is involved. And if a family member is involved or if you feel nostalgic about your father or uncle who used to do it, you don’t mention it. But now, when I show the film, people are less worried, someone will say “Oh, I had a cousin who used to do it…” It’s almost like drugs, no-one wants to say they have a relation who uses.

The baloeiros put a lot of strain on family relationships.

People are passionate about their art form – it does require sacrifices, especially because it’s illegal. Now, why balloons have this insane power over people – that is a different level, and I think the film just scratches the surface of that.

Some people have been involved for 20 years or more, and the technical skill in glueing a giant balloon is impressive.

People like being part of a world which requires everyone to want to put this level of intensity into what they do, if not you can’t make it. And it’s very contagious – it’s just a lot of life! And the tougher your other civil life is, the more appealing this ‘dream life’ is going to be. In a place like Brazil, where if you’re just born in the wrong place, you are left on your own to survive, the more important these community bonds become, because they are the people who will have your back.

Jaba celebrates

A balloon carrying 300 Kg of fireworks has to be well hidden to avoid the police, but are the local populations hoping to see them, or is it just a sport for the baloeiros to chase them across the country?

A lot of young people will chase them, whether they are baloeiros or not, and I find this fascinating because it’s like an instinct. However, random adults will not get involved in a chase if they are not baloeiros. I think most adults will be scared if they only know the side the media shows. The police are also chasing the balloons because they know that the baloeiros will be there when the balloon lands. But even they are not as good as the baloieros at chasing and understanding where the balloon will land. It needs a lot of technique, because you are following a tiny dot in the sky, and it depends on the wind direction in the area. Now they have super-developed weather apps to find out how fast it’s going and calculate where it’s going to land. You need to be trained to go on a proper chase that sometimes lasts for days.

Police find a balloon

When a balloon is caught, it may be repaired and launched again many times – by the same people or others?

Once the balloon is released it doesn’t belong to anybody. Sometimes people invite the original balloon crew to see it go up again out of respect, or even give it back to them. They already have the status of having caught this very special balloon. If the balloon was made by a big crew like Sergio’s they will do it out of respect, and it will be something beautiful for them too.

Are the different crews competing to launch the most spectacular balloon?

There are a lot of baloeiros who say: “This is what makes me happy and I’m going to launch this balloon with my wife’s face on it”. But others see it as a competitive sport, and it’s just like filmmaking where a lot of filmmakers would never admit that they read reviews or care about prizes, but deep inside they probably do. Don’t all artists want to feel that their art is appreciated and understood by other people?  

Someone in the film says: “The true baloeiro paints the sky without staining the earth” – but fires are a problem in SP state in hot weather – isn’t it irresponsible to launch balloons then?

Everything that is forced to be clandestine is dangerous because it is not regulated. I compared it to Mexico but also to France and Colombia and Indonesia, where they have legal balloon festivals using the exact same techniques. If we circle back to the artist’s need for recognition and the comparison to the film festivals, in Mexico they have legal balloon festivals where baloeiros win prizes. They compete with each other, and the Ministry of Culture in Mexico even flies in Brazilian baloeiros to showcase their balloons. The fire brigade are called out to take care of the safety, the balloons have specifications they need to conform to and competitors are responsible for their balloons. 

Firework shows would also be dangerous if they were made without regulation. I hope that the new visibility that this film is providing for balloon-making will lead to a dialogue about the ways to make the tradition continue in a safe way. 

You have a tattoo as a birthday present, will you keep in touch?

 Of course: there is no other option. 

Sissel's birthday balloon

How was the New York screening?

We had an incredible sold-out U.S premiere in New York with a different kind of style after-party with Brazilian Baile Funk music. More screenings have been added this week by the festival. I will also be giving a masterclass in how we made Cai Cai Balão to a high school in Brooklyn this week.