Nordisk Panorama 2024: City of Malmö’s Audience Award to Balomania

by Sissel Morell Dargis, 94 min, Denmark, Spain, 2024.
Synopsis:
In the heart of Brazil’s favelas a secret society of hot air balloon-makers risk arrest to create and fly their illegal masterpieces, painting the sky with colour. Condemned by the authorities as dangerous delinquents, the ’baloeiros’ are outlaw street artists operating in secrecy, evading government reprisal and bounty hunters, and bringing joy to communities.

About the director:
Sissel Morell Dargis (b. 1992, Denmark) has a background in painting graffiti, which led her to photography, and eventually documentary. As a teenager she lived in Brazil where she through graffiti became part of the secret balloon world. This would become the setting of her first feature film Balomanía. She is a graduate of the Cuban film school EICTV, where she directed several shorts that screened across the world. Later on she went into games studying at The National Film School of Denmark. Here she developed the indie game Cai Cai Balão, which was nominated at the Independent Games Festival, Indiecade and exhibited at the Smithsonian Arts Museum, Museum da Favela and won Games for Change Latin America for Best Game, and Game of Impact. Cai Cai Balão is set in the same world as Balomania and is a crossover of characters and situations between the film and game. 

About the award:
To receive the City of Malmö’s Audience Award at Nordisk Panorama Film Festival is among the finest appreciations a filmmaker can get. The audience can vote for any of the Nordic short films and documentaries competing in the main competition programmes. The award goes to the director(s) of the winning film.

Prize:
The cash award of 2.500€ is sponsored by the City of Malmö.
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Tue Steen Müller
Tue Steen Müller

Müller, Tue Steen
Documentary Consultant and Critic, DENMARK

Worked with documentary films for more than 20 years at the Danish Film Board, as press officer, festival representative and film consultant/commissioner. Co-founder of Balticum Film and TV Festival, Filmkontakt Nord, Documentary of the EU and EDN (European Documentary Network).
Awards: 2004 the Danish Roos Prize for his contribution to the Danish and European documentary culture. 2006 an award for promoting Portuguese documentaries. 2014 he received the EDN Award “for an outstanding contribution to the development of the European documentary culture”. 2016 The Cross of the Knight of the Order for Merits to Lithuania. 2019 a Big Stamp at the 15th edition of ZagrebDox. 2021 receipt of the highest state decoration, Order of the Three Stars, Fourth Class, for the significant contribution to the development and promotion of Latvian documentary cinema outside Latvia. In 2022 he received an honorary award at DocsBarcelona’s 25th edition having served as organizer and programmer since the start of the festival.
From 1996 until 2005 he was the first director of EDN (European Documentary Network). From 2006 a freelance consultant and teacher in workshops like Ex Oriente, DocsBarcelona, Archidoc, Documentary Campus, Storydoc, Baltic Sea Forum, Black Sea DocStories, Caucadoc, CinéDOC Tbilisi, Docudays Kiev, Dealing With the Past Sarajevo FF as well as programme consultant for the festivals Magnificent7 in Belgrade, DOCSBarcelona, Verzio Budapest, Message2Man in St. Petersburg and DOKLeipzig. Teaches at the Zelig Documentary School in Bolzano Italy.

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