Balloon, the new drama from director Pema Tseden, is the latest film to receive BFI FAN New Release Support. Set in Tibet, the film will be released theatrically by Day for Night on 24 September.
Since summer 2018, BFI Film Audience Network (FAN) has been supporting four new release films each year to help exhibitors across the UK engage with more diverse audiences and programme titles that they traditionally would not book. BFI FAN members that screen New Release titles receive support from BFI FAN including marketing resources and social media budget.
Tibet, 1980s: Dargye and Drolkar’s two boisterous youngest sons have blown up their parents’ condoms like balloons. Not only does this outrage their entire village, but more practically: they have no more condoms. The shepherd couple already have three sons, and as China has recently introduced its one-child policy, they can’t have any more.
Once China’s one-child policy was relaxed in 2015 – now permitting two children per family – space opened up for films examining the often profoundly traumatic consequences of this measure. Tseden takes a drily comic approach to the subject here, captured in deceptively simple handheld footage full of implicit symbolism. In his world, there is no chasm between modernity and tradition; rather, the two gently rub against each other.
With its cool colour palette, attentive handheld camerawork, and painterly passages that seem to transpire somewhere between this world and the next, Balloon approaches weighty themes with beguiling brio and a sense of wonder.
- Sfera 1932 Award – Special Mention, Venice Film Festival 2019
- Silver Hugo – Best Screenplay, Chicago International Film Festival 2019
- Best Film – New Asian Cinema award, Five Flavours Asian Film Festival 2019
- Grand Prize, Tokyo FILMeX 2019
BFI FAN members that screen Balloon can expect and request:
- Audio descriptive and captioned versions of the film
- Marketing pack and assets including programme notes
- Freelance marketing support in every Film Hub area
- Pre-recorded Q&A with director
- Advice from Inclusive Cinema for exhibitors putting on accessible screenings
- Budget for Facebook/social media ads
Balloon is released on 24 September 2021 and can be booked via Day For Night by contacting: duncan@day-for-night.org
Other new Release titles released in the 2021/22 season include the award-winning Sound of Metal from Vertigo Releasing, Another Round from StudioCanal and Limbo from MUBI.
For more information on how BFI FAN can support your screening, visit www.fannewreleases.co.uk to download the marketing pack or email ti.s@watershed.co.uk
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STUDIOCANAL’s Oscar-winning Another Round receives New Release Support from BFI FAN
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Vertigo Releasing’s Sound of Metal receives New Release Support from BFI FAN
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MUBI’s Limbo receives New Release Support from BFI FAN
