The Red Balloon Double Bill:
Monday 18th- Thurs 21st/11am and 8pm/ Daytime £2/ evening £3/£4

The Red Balloon (Le Balloon Rouge)
Albert Lamorisse/ France/ 1956/ 34mins/ Cert U

The Red Ballon tells the story of Pascal , who, on his way to school one morning, discovers a large helium-filled red balloon.
As Pascal plays with his new found toy, he realizes the balloon has a mind and will of its own, and it begins to follow Pascal wherever he goes.
The red balloon follows Pascal through the streets of Paris, and the pair draw inquisitive looks from adults and the envy of other children as they wander the streets.
In their wanderings around the neighborhood, Pascal and the balloon encounter a gang of bullies, and they destroy his new friend. Then other balloons of various sizes and colors descend on the boy from all parts of Paris, and together they lift him into the sky and take him away over the horizon.

Flight Of The Red Balloon (Le voyage du ballon rouge)
Hsiao-hsien Hou/ France/ 2007/ 116 mins/ Cert PG

Seven-year-old Simon is followed around the city by a mysterious red balloon. His mother Suzanne, busy rehearsing a new play for her Chinese puppet theatre, hires Taiwanese film student Song as Simon's childminder. For her college project - a homage to Albert Lamorisse's famous 1956 film The Red Balloon - Song starts to film Simon walking and playing around Paris.
The balloon appears periodically outside Simon's cramped apartment, either drifting over the neighbourhood rooftops or bobbing outside his window. Simon visits the Musée d'Orsay on a school trip, where his class is shown The Ball, a painting by Félix Vallotton in which a child chases a red ball. As they discuss it, the red balloon bumps against the museum's skylight windows before flying off over the city.
Steeped in Paris atmosphere, it's a beautiful homage to Lamorisse's The Red Balloon and makes it perfect Summer Garden Cinema viewing.