“War and peace” over Sevastopol

On August 11-16, 2010, the international festival of hot air balloons called “Montgolfier” is being held in the Crimea for the first time. The balloonists will be artists who will paint the sky above Sevastopol in vivid colors. The festival is organized by the Kyiv Ballooning Society for the third year in a row.

This year the festival will be part of the Sevastopol International Art Festival “War and Peace,” an artistic project that unites festivals representing different trends in contemporary and classical art: from cinema and photography to media art and music performances.

The main events of “War and Peace” will be held on the square of Mykhailivska Battery — a unique fortification object that received a second lease on life: the Naval Museum of Ukraine recently opened an exhibit, “Heroic Sevastopol,” there. The exhibit, organized by the Sheremetiev’s Museum, reveals the history of Sevastopol from its founding to World War II. The festival “Montgolfier” is an improved format of international ballooning festivals and is expected to attract a million viewers. According to the organizers’ design, the festival will coincide in time with the Festival of Performances & Media Balaklava Odyssey, which will expand the audience.

The best pilots and record-setters of Ukraine, as well as balloonists from Russia, Moldova, and Lithuania, will show their unique skills to the viewers. Halyna and Lesia Telniuk, guests of the festival, will launch their new music project “Sonmo” in a surprising interpretation: melodeclamation and folk-rock, jazz-rock, art-rock, and trip-hop pieces will be performed to the “accompaniment” of bursts of fire ejected from the burners of “waltzing” balloons.

The balloons will be launched from such places as the Mykhailivska Battery, Nakhimov Square, Inkerman Quarry, ­Ba­laklava, Baidarka Valley, and Khersones. The program of the festival includes joint launches of balloons from Sevastopol’s historical sites, sightseeing and excursion flights over the city, night illumination, Ballooning Light Show, and a special joint project of “Montgolfier” and the Festival of Performances & Media Balaklava Odyssey — “Fire, Water, and Copper Pipes.”