The first of the series of films being produced by Musee d’Orsay in Paris with world famous directors, Flight of the Red Balloon displays the daily lives of voice actress Suzanne, her young son Simon, and his nanny, Song Fang, a foreign student from Taiwan. Director HOU Hsiao Hsien got his inspiration from the short film Flight of the Red Balloon by Albert Lamorisse, but Hou has a completely different interpretation of the subject. If Lamorisse’ red balloon meant the oppression for children and hope for their new freedom in the social environment of 1956 Paris, HOU depicts the society of today where such freedom for children does not exist. (KIM Ji-suk)