3H Productions, Margo Films and Les Films du Lendemain present

A film by Hou Hsiao Hsien

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In Cannes Booth K5/L8 (Riviera) Tel: +33 4 92 99 32 47 Fax: +33 4 92 99 33 03 In Paris 34, rue du Louvre - 75001 Paris - FR Tel: +33 1 53 10 33 99 Fax: +33 1 53 10 33 98 A mysterious red balloon affectio- nately follows seven-year-old Simon around Paris. His mother Suzanne is a puppeteer who uses her vocal ta- lents to bring life to the shows she writes. Completely absorbed in her new show, single mother Suzanne becomes overwhelmed by the com- plications of modern daily life. She decides to hire Song Fang, a Taiwa- nese fi lm student, to help her care for Simon. FLIGHT OF THE RED BALLOON When did you fi rst see Albert days. He also writes about the game is the fi rst fi lm in a series initiated by the Lamorisse’s fi lm Le Ballon Rouge? on the merry-go-round in the Jardin president of Paris’ Musée d’Orsay, de Luxembourg: the kids on the ride Serge Lemoine, and the production, When Francois Margolin, on the behalf have little sticks, which they try to push in conjunction with the museum’s 20th of the president of the Musée d’Orsay, through the small metal ring as they go anniversary. The idea is to bring came to see me and invited me to past. I put that in the fi lm, too. together contemporary artists, make a fi lm with them, I agreed and in this case world class fi lmmakers, started researching what I might do. Coming to Lamorisse’s fi lm fi fty years and the Museum’s Impressionist I met people, read about Paris, read after it was made, what did you make or Art Nouveau treasures. about French cinema... and I found out of it? The terms are particularly simple: about Lamorisse’s fi lm and watched it. the museum must be present, either My fi rst reaction on seeing it was that throughout the fi lm or just a scene. I also read a very useful book, published it showed certain realities of Paris in This is how Hou Hsiao Hsien in France. It’s called Paris to the Moon 1956. It shows the city’s ambience, came to scout locations for and it’s by an American, Adam Gopnik. and the social system of the time. the fi rst time in Paris. I think I related to this book because The focus on the various constraints This was the starting point for the it’s written from the perspective of an surrounding the child is revealing: he adventure of this fi lm: outsider, and it became my guide to is forbidden to do things at home, at FLIGHT OF THE RED BALLOON. Paris. From the book I learned about school, on the bus ... He doesn’t have the children’s toy called “The Machine enough space to live, but at the same for Drawing the World,” which I used in time the fi lm gives a sense of the the scene in which Simon and Louise new, post-war freedoms around him. draw pictures. Gopnik’s book taught Kids today don’t have such freedoms. me many other things too, such as the I didn’t think of the red balloon itself fact that there were pinball machines in metaphorical terms; I think the fi lm in many Parisian cafés in the old shows cruel realities. How well did you know Paris before things are established, I can start work away. I associate Truffaut with single- making your fi lm? on the script. minded, persistent characters, and this ancient play offers an archetypal I’d visited the city two or Your Paris has a distinctly Chinese image of persistence. and seen the tourist sights. Once the fl avour, though, thanks to the fi lm was set up, I took every chance to casting of Song Fang as the child- It’s hard to fi nd people who are truly visit and spent as much time as I could minder and to the puppet play that persistent in that way these days, exploring the city. Suzanne narrates. but I think Suzanne is like that. She narrates the story of Zhang Yu, the There are certain similarities I met Song Fang at the Pusan Film scholar who tries to boil away the between your approach to Paris Festival when I was the dean of its ocean to retrieve his beloved Qiong and your approaches to Tokyo in fi rst Asian Film Academy and she Lian, and her own domestic situation Café Lumiere and to in Three was one of the students. I talked is analogous: she’s stuck in an Times. You anchor your stories in with her and found she spoke fl uent emotional impasse, and is determined the topography, culture, history French; she’d spent years in Brussels to help herself out of it through her and everyday life of the cities... and Paris, and was then studying at own efforts. Beijing Film Academy. Meeting her Before making Café Lumiere, I’d inspired the character she plays, who How much of a fi lm like this do you never imagined that I could make a is not untypical of Mainland Chinese script in advance? Just the overall fi lm abroad. I didn’t feel I knew well in France. Plenty of Taiwanese structure, or is it more than that? enough how people lived in other students go to France to study, but countries and other cultures. During hardly any of them work as child- I have a full script, but without the the Café Lumiere shoot I gave the minders. On the other hand, lots of dialogue. Each scene is discussed in actors certain freedoms to do things Mainlanders do. detail with the actors, who invent their their own way, and the results were own dialogue to fi t the situation. This quite pleasing. And so I approached The puppet play that Suzanne narrates worked fi ne in general but I had a this fi lm the same way. derives from a Yuan Dynasty play. problem with the child actor who plays Director Bai Jingrui wanted to adapt Simon. There are strict regulations on I start with the locations. The fi rst it as a movie for many years, but never the hours that children are allowed thing this time was to fi nd Suzanne’s did. Versions of it are often performed to work, and I had only thirty days apartment. Then Simon’s school. What in Taiwanese puppet theatres. About in total to shoot the fi lm. I wasn’t time does it come out? Where is it in fi ve years ago, the magazine Cahiers satisfi ed that I’d captured the child’s relation to the apartment? Where is du Cinema asked me to write feelings very fully, and that led to a lot the puppet theatre where Suzanne something about Truffaut’s cinema, of additional work in the editing and performs? Once all of these concrete and this play came to my mind right post-production. How well did we decided that Suzanne’s father and I wanted to use that in some way. adapt to this way of working? mother met in 1968 and later divorced. But this is a French movie, and so Presumably she’s used to having a They ran a printing business in Paris. I had to fi nd a way to integrate a dialogue script to work from? When they divorced, the apartments Chinese puppet-theatre story into a went to the wife, who bequeathed French narrative. That’s how I came We didn’t have that much time them to Suzanne. Suzanne had up with the idea that Suzanne would for preparation, and I met Juliette Louise by her fi rst long-term partner. be a creator and voice performer of only three times before we started When that relationship ended, Louise puppet shows in Paris. shooting. The fi rst time, she wasn’t went to live with her grandfather ready and couldn’t come up with any (Suzanne’s father) in Brussels. Pierre from an interview by Tony dialogue. The second time was not (Simon’s father) is thus Suzanne’s Rayns, conducted at Spot Cinema in much better. But the third time, she second long-term partner, a novelist; Taipei in March 2007, translated by arrived as Suzanne. She’d entered the he went to Canada as a writer-in- Chang ChuTi. character, knew her hair colour, knew residence for a university in Montreal. how she talked, everything. When you Most of this detail is never mentioned work with actors as professional as in the fi lm, but because the actors Juliette Binoche is, you can expect know it all they can draw on it and to get that kind of contribution from refer to it when they need to. them. This is the second fi lm you’ve made I had a similar experience with the in which puppet theatre is a central parents in Café Lumiere. They’re motif. What draws you to this very both professional actors and their specialised art? contributions ended up defi ning the characters they played. The man When I was young puppet shows decided that he should be taciturn, were often staged in front of temples almost silent, and the woman played and I saw them many times, and so off that, becoming more nervous and puppet theatre always looms large insecure. in my own memories. I even tried to make my own puppet shows when I Do you give the actors full back- was a kid. In this fi lm, it was thinking stories to work with? about the persistence of Suzanne’s character that led me back to puppet Yes, I write as much background as theatre. The story of Zhang Yu is a possible, in great detail. For example, staple of the puppet theatre, and so Director Actress DIRECTORDIRECTOR Hou Hsiao Hsien 2007 FLIGHT OF THE RED BALLOON 2007 DISENGAGEMENT, Amos GITAÏ CAST Suzanne: Juliette Binoche Cannes 2007 - Un Certain Regard - Opening Film PARIS, Cédric KLAPISCH Simon: Simon Iteanu 2005 THREE TIMES, Cannes 2005 - Offi cial Selection 2006 DAN IN REAL LIFE, Peter Hedges Song: Song Fang 2004 CAFÉ LUMIÈRE FLIGHT OF THE RED BALLOON HOU, Hsiao Hsien Marc: Hippolyte Girardot 2001 2005 MARY, Abel FERRARA Louise: Louise Margolin Cannes 2001- Technical Grand Prize BREAKING AND ENTERING, 1998 FLOWERS OF A FEW DAYS IN SEPTEMBER, Santiago AMIGORENA LANGUAGE French Cannes 1998 - Offi cial Selection 2004 BEE SEASON ,Scott Mc GEHEE & David SIEGEL LENGTH 1h53 1996 GOODBYE SOUTH, GOODBYE HIDDEN ,Michaël HANEKE FORMAT 35mm - 1.85 - Colour Cannes 1996 - Offi cial Selection 2003 IN MY COUNTRY, SOUND Dolby SR 1995 GOOD MEN, GOOD WOMEN 2001 JET LAG ,Danièle THOMPSON LOCATION France Cannes 1995 - Offi cial Selection 2000 CHOCOLAT, Lasse HALLSTRÖM 1993 THE PUPPETMASTER, Cannes 1993 - Special Jury Prize 1999 CODE UNKNOWN, DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY Mark Lee Ping Bing 1989 , Venice 1989 - THE WIDOW OF SAINT PIERRE, Patrice LECONTE SOUND ENGINEER Chu Shih Yi 1988 1998 THE CHILDREN OF THE CENTURY, Diane KURYS EDITORS Liao Ching Sung Cannes 1988 - Director’s Fortnight 1997 ALICE AND MARTIN, André TECHINE Jean-Christophe Hym 1986 DUST IN THE WIND 1995 A COUCH IN NEW YORK, Chantal AKERMAN PRODUCTIONS Margo Films, Les Films du Lendemain, 1985 A TIME TO LIVE, AND A TIME TO DIE THE ENGLISH PATIENT, Anthony MINGHELLA 3H Productions Limited Berlin 1985 - International Critics Award 1994 THE HORSEMAN ON THE ROOF, J-P RAPPENEAU PRODUCERS François Margolin and Kristina Larsen 1984 A SUMMER AT GRANDPA’S 1993 THREE COLOURS : BLUE, Krysztof KIESLOWSKI LINE PRODUCER Liao Ching Sung 1983 1992 DAMAGE, IN CO-PRODUCTION WITH Arte France Cinéma 1983 THE SANDWICH MAN 1991 LOVERS ON THE PONT NEUF, Léos CARAX 1983 THE GREEN, GREEN GRASS OF HOME WUTHERING HEIGHTS, Peter KOSMINSKY In partnership with Le Musée d’Orsay 1981 CHEERFUL WIND 1987 THE UNBEARABLE, Philip KAUFMAN With the support of La Région Ile de France 1980 LIGHTNESS OF BEING, J.C. Carrière et P. Kaufman With the participation of Canal Plus, CineCinema, la Sofi ca Poste Image and Sofi cinema 3 1986 THE NIGHT IS YOUNG, Léos CARAX 1985 HAIL MARY, Jean Luc GODARD FAMILY LIFE, Jacques DOILLON RENDEZ VOUS, André TECHINE Production Company Production Company Features LES FILMS DU LENDEMAIN was founded in 1993. The president MARGO FILMS was founded in 1989. 2006 FLIGHT OF THE RED BALLOON by HOU Hsiao Hsien is Bernard-Henri LEVY, the producer is Kristina LARSEN. François MARGOLIN is the managing director. 2006 BOARDING GATE by Olivier ASSAYAS 2004 JOURNEES A LA CAMPAGNE (DIAS DE CAMPO) 2007 ON WAR by Bertrand Bonello Short-Films by Raoul Ruiz 2006 FLIGHT OF THE RED BALLOON by Hou Hsiao Hsien 1998 BARBES-STALINGRAD by François MARGOLIN 2003 FOREST WALKERS by Ivan VOJNAR 2006 LADY CHATTERLEY by Pascale Ferran 1994 A LUCY by Radha-Rajen JAGANATHEN 2001 THE PILGRIMAGE OF STUDENTS PETER AND JACOB 2006 AMERICAN VERTIGO (documentary) 1989 ELLE ET LUI by François MARGOLIN by Drahomina VIHANOVA by Michko Netchak 1997 MATANGA by David-Pierre FILA, in co-production with 2006 GRADIVA by Alain Robbe-Grillet Documentaries les Productions La Gauchet (Canada), le Ministère 2005 LA MAISON DE TANGER (TV documentary ) 2004 LES PETITS SOLDATS by François MARGOLIN de la Coopération et les Films Bantou (Congo). by Benoît Jacquot 2003 OAS, L’HISTOIRE INTERDITE by François MARGOLIN Selected at Ouagadougou 2004 EARTH & ASHES by Atiq Rahimi and Georges-Marc BENAMOU 1995 A PROPOS DE NICE directed by seven directors: 2003 MY MOTHER by Christophe Honoré 2003 DERRIERE LE VOILE by François MARGOLIN Claire DENIS, Raymond DEPARDON 2003 NE FAIS PAS ÇA ! by Luc Bondy 2001 L’OPIUM DES TALIBANS by François MARGOLIN Costa GAVRAS, Pavel LOUNGUINE 2001 SERBIA, YEAR ZERO documentary by Goran Markovic and Olivier WEBER Catherine BREILLAT, Abbas KIAROSTAMI 2000 SAVAGE SOULS by Raoul Ruiz 1999 PETITE CONVERSATION FAMILIALE and Raoul RUIZ, (in homage to Jean VIGO), 1999 LES INFORTUNES DE LA BEAUTÉ by John Lvoff by Hélène LAPIOWER in co-production with LA SEPT CINEMA, 1999 TIME REGAINED by Raoul Ruiz 1999 MIOTTE by Raoul RUIZ pre-sale CANAL PLUS 1998 BIENVENUE À VITROLLES documentary 1996 LE TANGO DES VITAMINES by Robinson SAVARY 1995 THE FORTRESS by Drahomira VIHANOVA by Guy Konopnicki and Thierry Vincent 1995 DIX ANS APRES de François MARGOLIN 1993 THE LIE by François MARGOLIN 1996 DAY AND NIGHT by Bernard-Henri Lévy, 1992 NICE, LA PETITE RUSSIE by Pavel LOUNGUINE with Nathalie BAYE and Didier SANDRE 1994 BOSNA ! docmentary by Bernard-Henri Lévy