‘Balomania,’ ‘KIX’ Filmmakers on Ethics of Filming Protagonists on Society’s Margins

variety.com:

Lise Pedersen Opening CPH:DOX’s popular “Film:makers in Dialogue” industry section on Monday, the directors of “Balomania” and “KIX,” running in the main Dox and Next:Wave segments respectively, met to discuss the challenges and ethics involved in following protagonists on the margins of society over many years, and the impact they hope to generate.

Shot over more than a decade, “Balomania” by Sissel Morell Dargis is the fascinating and wild story of secret gangs from Brazil’s favelas who make and chase gigantic hot air balloons.

Dargis came across what she calls the “balloon guys” as a 19-year-old graffiti artist on the streets of Brazil. Fascinated by their art, which is illegal and can land the “baloeiros” in jail because of the threat it poses to public safety, she had to earn their trust in order to follow them on their underground journeys to locations where they build and launch the balloons. “As I saw the dangers,” she explained, citing one night when a balloon caught fire and she fell, injuring herself and breaking her camera, “I always tried to be like, ‘Guys, I’m on your side, but we can’t deny that it’s dangerous,’ which is a common attitude in the balloon world.

That was delicate to navigate.” Her choice, she said, was to be transparent about the subjective nature of her film – “It isn’t journalism, thank God!” – by showing her own experience and the potential danger, even if the baloeiros would have preferred she hadn’t filmed that scene at all.