The Red Balloon / White Mane

THE RED BALLOON, 1956, Janus Fims, 34 min. Dir. Albert Lamorisse. In this deceptively simple, nearly wordless tale, a young boy discovers a stray balloon that seems to have a mind of its own. Wandering through the streets of Paris, the two become inseparable, to the surprise of the neighborhood and the envy of other children. Winner of the Palme d’Or at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival, the film has enchanted the young—and the young at heart—for decades, and it will surely find a new generation of fans with this rerelease.

WHITE MANE, 1953, Janus Films, 40 min. Dir. Albert Lamorisse. In the south of France is a near-desert region called La Camargue. There lives White Mane, a magnificent stallion and the leader of a herd of wild horses too proud to let themselves be broken in by humans. Only Folco, a young fisherman, manages to tame him. A strong friendship grows between the boy and the horse, but they must elude the wrangler and his herdsmen to live freely.