TUESDAY, OCT. 22, 2019 @ 07:30 PM – WA PREMIERE – BUY TICKETS!

BALLOON (Ballon)

Germany, 2018 – 125 min
Director: Michael “Bully” Herbig
Cast: Friedrich Mücke, Karoline Schuch, David Kross, Thomas Kretschmann, Alicia von Rittberg

Known for Germany’s all-time biggest grossing movies Manitou’s Shoe (2001) and Dreamship Surprise (2004), comedy personality Michael “Bully” Herbig now makes his directing foray into thrillers, recreating a gripping historical event.
1979, East Germany at the height of the Cold War. Günter Wetzel (David Kross, The Reader), a bricklayer, and his friend Peter Strelzyk (Friedrich Mücke), an electrician, can no longer bear the oppressive regime. The two men and their wives resolve to undertake a mission to secretly build a hot air balloon from scratch that will carry them and their families over the border fence to freedom. Over the course of the next 18 months they sew 1,000 square metres of cloth and gather countless weather reports from West German radio with the Stasi (State Police) hot on their heels. A nerve-racking battle against the clock begins…

NOMINATED
Best Film Score, Sound, German Film Awards 2019, Best Film, Deutscher Kamerapreis 2019

This movie is proudly sponsored by the Consulate General of Germany in San Francisco