Berlin, June 29t, 2018
The newly published trailer lets audiences immerse in an unbelievable adventure based on a true story: In 1979, the families Strelzyk and Wetzel ventured to escape from the GDR to freedom with a homemade hot-air balloon – eight people in a tiny gondola. Based on their story, director Michael Bully Herbig has staged a captivating thriller that tells the escape of the two families as a breathless race against time.
Balloon – Directed by: Michael Bully Herbig, Written by: Kit Hopkins & Thilo Röschein und Michael Bully Herbig, with Friedrich Mücke, Karoline Schuch, David Kross, Alicia von Rittberg and Thomas Kretschmann and many others.
RELEASE DATE : SEPTEMBER 27th, DISTRIBUTED BY STUDIOCANAL
Synopsis:
Summer 1979 in Thuringia. For more than two years the families Strelzyk and Wetzel have forged a daredevil plan: They want to flee with a homemade hot air balloon from the GDR. But the balloon crashes just before the West German border. The Stasi finds traces of this attempt to escape and immediately starts the investigation, while the two families are forced to build a new escape balloon under great time pressure. With each passing day the Stasi is closer on their heels – a nerve-wracking race against time begins.
With Balloon, Michael Bully Herbig has created a film about the most spectacular escape attempt from the GDR for the big movie screen: On September 16th 1979, the families Strelzyk and Wetzel succeeded in overcoming the border with a homemade hot-air balloon and fleeing to the Federal Republic. Based on this true story, Michael Bully Herbig has staged a captivating thriller with an excellent cast: Friedrich Mücke (SMS für Dich“, Karoline Schuch (Katharina Luther), David Kross (The Reader), Alicia von Rittberg (Charité) and Thomas Kretschmann (Operation Valkyrie) and many others.
Balloon is a herbX film production in co-production with STUDIOCANAL Film and Seven Pictures and was funded by Filmfernsehfonds Bayern, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg as well as Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung, FFA Filmförderungsanstalt and Deutscher Filmförderfonds, based on a script by Kit Hopkins & Thilo Röscheisen and Michael Bully Herbig. STUDIOCANAL has taken over world distribution. Principal photography took place at the end of 2017 in Bavaria, Thuringia and Berlin.