The Red Balloon / Le Ballon Rouge (1956)

“The body of work that Albert Lamorisse left behind may be small, but his achievement can’t be fully measured in feet of footage. “Astonish me” is advice that was once famously given by a mentor to Jean Cocteau—and the fact that Lamorisse’s filmography contains a great number of astonishing feats makes him akin to that great surrealist, perhaps the French director with whom he had the most in common. Lamorisse gave his illusions the conviction of reality, and he made the real world seem as miraculous as myth. His eye transformed what it fell on, unlocking the extraordinary. His work gets at something central to cinematic pleasure: our urge to see the world represented honestly, and then given a gentle turn into fantasy. “I’m happy,” Lamorisse said, “to have been able to free cinema from earth.”

- David Cairns, “Head in the Clouds: The Cinema of Albert Lamorisse”

Prix Louis Delluc: Prix Louis Delluc; Albert Lamorisse, 1956
Cannes Film Festival: Palme d'Or du court métrage/Golden Palm; Best Short Film, Albert Lamorisse, 1956
British Academy of Film and Television Arts: BAFTA Award; Special Award, France, 1957
Academy Awards: Oscar; Best Writing, Best Original Screenplay, Albert Lamorisse, 1957
National Board of Review: Top Foreign Films, 1957