''Billy's Balloon'' is a 16 mm animated short by

Don Hertzfeldt Don Hertzfeldt (born August 1, 1976) is an American animator, writer, and independent filmmaker. He is a two-time Academy Award nominee who is best known for the animated films ''It's Such a Beautiful Day (film), It's Such a Beautiful Day'', the ...

. It was his fourth and final student film at

UC Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an independent teachers college, UCSB joined ...

. Similar to his other cartoons, he uses a minimalist stick-figure technique. The film was invited into Official Competition at the 1999

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

(where Hertzfeldt was the youngest director involved), and it won the Grand Jury Award at the 1999

Slamdance Film Festival The Slamdance Film Festival is an annual film festival focused on emerging artists. The annual week-long festival is held in Los Angeles in late February and is the main event organized by the year-round Slamdance organization. The organization ...

. On top of its film festival runs (and subsequent popularity online), the short has also appeared on

Adult Swim Adult Swim (stylized as dult swimand s is an American adult-oriented television programming block that airs on Cartoon Network which broadcasts during the evening, prime time, and Late-night television, late-night Dayparting, dayparts. T ...

and

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

in the US and on a number of international TV broadcasts around the world. Hertzfeldt has noted that the short's international popularity is likely because it has no dialogue and plays like a silent film.

Plot

A stick figure toddler (presumably named Billy) sits happily with a balloon and rattle until he is unexpectedly hit on the head by the balloon. The balloon gradually escalates its attack into a pummelling. When an adult passes by the balloon acts innocent until the adults pass out of sight. Billy is then slowly lifted into the air and dropped multiple times until the balloon stops in the clouds and Billy sees another child held up by a different balloon. They wave to one another and the other child is struck by a plane. A short sequence shows a girl being attacked by several balloons. Two short sequences follow of multiple children being terrorised by balloons. No explanation is given of how or why the balloons are mistreating children. The story is considered a parody of French film director

Albert Lamorisse Albert Lamorisse (; 13 January 1922 – 2 June 1970) was a French filmmaker, film producer, and writer of short films which he began making in the late 1940s. He also invented the strategic board game ''Risk'' in 1957. Life Lamorisse was born ...

's 1956

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

Le ballon rouge ''The Red Balloon'' () is a 1956 French fantasy comedy-drama featurette written, produced, and directed by Albert Lamorisse. The thirty-four-minute short, which follows the adventures of a young boy who one day finds a sentient, mute, red ballo ...

''. There have been many interpretations on what themes the short represents, but Hertzfeldt intentionally avoids talking about them so as to not invalidate the personal experiences the audience has with the film.

Home media

''Billy's Balloon'' was featured on the DVD "Don Hertzfeldt Volume 1", a compilation of Hertzfeldt's short films from 1995 to 2005. Special features included original pencil tests, production sketches, notes, and deleted ideas from the film. In 2015, ''Billy's Balloon'' was remastered again for inclusion on the '' It's Such a Beautiful Day'' Blu-ray.

References

External links

* * Short films directed by Don Hertzfeldt 1998 animated short films 1998 films Animated films without speech 1990s American animated films American animated short films American student films {{short-animation-film-stub