Balloonfest

A six-minute archival record of Cleveland’s shambolic 1986 attempt to rid itself of the name ‘The Mistake by the Lake’ with a stunt: to set a world record by releasing almost one-and-a-half million balloons. What begins as a hysterically funny cavalcade of local pluck and bad 80s fashion transforms into haunting meditation on the dangers of hubris, as the balloon release goes wrong with dreadful consequences.