Giant hot air balloon makers in Brazil’s favelas risk everything to create and fly their illegal tissue paper masterpieces. Dubbed as delinquents in the eyes of the law, these baloeiros operate underground like graffiti artists while evading government threats and bounty hunters. The balloons can reach 70 metre heights, and to make them, they spend months and years in workshops with sketches, plans and thousands of sheets of paper. On culmination day, launching the balloon requires more than 100 men. Director Sissel Morell Dargis infiltrates the balloon brotherhood where the gorgeous masterpieces serve as a collective dream and a symbol of freedom and pride.

Balloons have been part of Brazilian culture since colonial times, but from the early 1960s their creation developed into a powerful subculture, and increasingly larger and more complex balloons began to disrupt air traffic and property. In 1998, this controversial livelihood was prohibited by law. At the same time in Mexico, releasing balloons is promoted as art, and baloeiros from Brazil are invited to participate in balloon festivals.

In Portuguese with subtitles in Latvian and English.