Billys Balloon
7.6 /10 1 Votes
86% Rotten Tomatoes Genre Animation, Comedy, Short Duration Country United States | 7.4/10 IMDb 4/10 Letterboxd Director Don Hertzfeldt Writer Don Hertzfeldt Running time 6 minutes Producer Don Hertzfeldt | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Release date 1998 (1998) Awards Slamdance Grand Jury Prize for Best Dramatic Short Related Don Hertzfeldt movies | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Billy s balloon
Billys Balloon is a 16mm animated short by Don Hertzfeldt. It was his 4th and final student film at UC Santa Barbara. Similar to his other cartoons, he utilizes a minimalist stick-figure technique.
Contents
The film was invited into Official Competition at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival (where Hertzfeldt was the youngest director involved), and it won the Grand Jury Award at the 1999 Slamdance Film Festival.
On top of its film festival runs (and popularity among internet bootleggers), the short has also appeared on Adult Swim and MTV in the US and on a number of international TV broadcasts around the world. Hertzfeldt has noted that the shorts international popularity is likely because it has no dialogue and plays like a silent film.
A balloon wraps itself around a young child's hand, bringing him higher and higher, much to the child's delight... but...
Plot
A stick figure toddler (presumably named Billy) is repeatedly attacked by his red balloon. No explanation for how or why the balloon is doing so is ever given. Similar events are shown to be occurring with other children as the short progresses. The story is a considered response to the French film director Albert Lamorisses 1956 featurette Le Ballon rouge.
Home media
Billys Balloon is featured on the DVD, "Bitter Films Volume 1", a compilation of Don Hertzfeldts short films from 1995-2005 that is available exclusively at the Bitter Films website. Special features included for Billys Balloon are Hertzfeldts original pencil tests, production sketches, notes, and deleted ideas from the film.
References
Billys Balloon WikipediaBillys Balloon LetterboxdBillys Balloon Rotten TomatoesBillys Balloon IMDb Billys Balloon themoviedb.org