Two families attempt a daredevil plan to escape the GDR with a homemade hot air balloon, but it crashes just before the border. The Stasi finds traces of this attempt to escape and immediately starts investigations, while the two families are forced to build a new escape balloon. With each passing day the Stasi is closer on their heels – a nerve-wracking race against time begins.
Balloon is a 2018 German thriller drama film directed by Michael Herbig. The film depicts the crossing of the Inner German border by the Strelzyk and Wetzel families from the GDR to West Germany with a self-made hot-air balloon in 1979. The two families, including four children, successfully floated across the sky from Pößneck, Thuringia to Naila, Bavaria, then situated 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) south of the Iron Curtain. They reached a height of 2,500 metres (8,200 ft) in the homemade balloon.
