Icarus Films Looks To July 7 For The Domestic DVD Release Of Director Michael Bully Herbig's Balloon

Icarus Films announced this past week that the Distrib Films release of German filmmaker Michael Bully Herbig’s Balloon, will be making its way to the DVD marketplace on July 7.

Based on the true story of two East German families — the Strelzyks and the Wetzels — who escaped to West Germany in a homemade balloon in 1979, which had been done before in 1982 (as an almost step-by-step documentary) by director Delbert Mann as Night Crossing.   Herbig’s version just jumps right in with Peter Strelzyk (Friedrich Mücke), his wife, Doris (Karoline Schuch) and their two kids failing miserably in their first attempt to escape.

The East German secret police — the dreaded Stasi — have gotten wind of the failed escape (the wreckage is a big clue) and now it is a race against time to build a second balloon, learn from the mistakes of the first attempt, and have another go at it.   Who do you trust in a police state?   One wrong move and prison, or worse, awaits.

Herbig’s Balloon opened theatrically in Germany in September of 2018, worked the film festival circuit for the better part of 2019 (with foreign market theatrical distribution worked into the mix) and then arrived here for a theatrical release on Feb. 21 of this year.   We all know what happened in the weeks that followed (Covid-19 shut all of the theatres in the country down in mid-March).

Now domestic audience can catch this bit of history — a suspense thriller that literally keeps you on the edge of your seat.   Balloon is presented in German with English subtitles and is certainly worth a look-see come July 7.

Also getting a domestic DVD street date is documentary filmmaker Olivier Jourdain’s very “different” look at a slice of African subculture, Sacred Water.

Rwanda, which has been the subject of some pretty intense films, including Hotel Rwanda and Sometimes in April, is also home to the sexual gratification practice of Rwandan women known as Kunyaza.   

The vivacious Rwandan talk show host, Vestine Dusabe, becomes our guide to this unique bit of her country’s culture.

Sacred Water is presented in Kinyarwanda with English subtitles.