The Black Balloon won the Crystal Bear for Best Feature Film "Generation 14plus" Berlin Film Festival as well as 6 Australian Film Institute (AACTA) awards including Best Film, Best Direction and Best Screenplay. The film won over thirty awards, including accolades from the Australia Director and Writer’s Guilds, Asia Pacific Screen Awards and Rotten Tomatoes.
AWARDS FOR THE BLACK BALLOON
Winner of the Crystal Bear for Best Feature Film "Generation 14plus" Berlin Film Festival.
Winner of 6 Australian Film Institute (AACTA) awards. Best Film, Best Directio, Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (Luke Ford), Best Supporting Actress (Toni Collette) and Best Editing.
Best Direction in a Feature Film at Australian Director’s Guild Awards.
Winner of Best Original Screenplay at Australian Writer’s Guild Awards.
Winner of Best Film, Best Director, Best Supporting Actress (Toni Collette) at the Australian Film Critics Circle.
Winner of Best Children’s Feature at Asia Pacific Screen Awards.
Winner of Golden Tomato - Best Australian Film – Rotten Tomatoes
PRESS / REVIEWS
The Hollywood Reporter
“The Black Balloon” boasts a host of naturalistic performances including a strong turn from Toni Collette as the boys’ demonstrative mother. The ensemble’s easy interactions, couple with a sincere, unsentimental script, make this one of the most genuinely enjoyable films out of Australia in years.”
Rolling Stone
“The film alternates between clever, black comedy and stirring drama, while unapologetically exploring the darkest moments of autism. It’s the combination of the performance of the brilliant primary cast – Collette and the surprising Ward in particular – and the tale of a strong, loving family unit, that makes you ask what the hell is normal anyway”
The Weekend Australian
“The best films require candour, honesty, an absence of self-conscious posturing and precious ability to tell a good story. If there is a better film about intellectual disability than The Black Balloon I’d like to hear about it.”
Roger Ebert
"The Black Balloon" establishes this family with a delicate mixture of tenderness and pain.”
Sunday Times
(The Black Balloon) is brilliant; a beautifully balanced comedy-drama that makes you laugh as much as it makes you cry, sometimes in the same scene.
LA Weekly
“The Black Balloon courses with a firsthand feel for languorous Aussie summers, the shifting scales of love and hate in sibling relationships, and the earned wit that helps families cope with difficult situations.”
Variety
“(Toni) Collette acts as an anchor for the ensemble, but the young leads credibly hold their own onscreen.”
Inside Film Magazine
“Aesthetically, the film captures suburbia, sunshine, and even somehow the smell of chlorine coming off steaming bodies during swim class…The film is visually beautiful, with lots of static shots and wide lensing – balanced with very physical movement sequences.”
At with Movies with Margaret and David
“This is such a strong film. The role of Thomas is a knife-edge one, it could so easily be made unsympathetic…Luke Ford makes Charlie both lovable and exasperating, another big achievement. But towering over the film is the performance is Toni Collette, and Erik Thomason gives solid support as Simon. Model turned actress Gemma Ward steps up to the plate.”
New York Times
“The blooming puppy love between Thomas and Jackie lends The Black Balloon a welcome strain of tenderness. Mr. Wakefield and Ms. Ward project the innocence of shy, sensitive young people for whom a tentative shared kiss is a very big deal.”
Click below to watch the trailer.
