Mac Miller’s family is keeping his spirit alive with the release of short film to accompany previously unreleased music that is coming out this month.
“Balloonerism: A Film Based On The Album By Mac Miller” will release this week, with screenings in the U.S. on Wednesday and internationally on Thursday, Miller’s estate announced Monday. The screenings will take place in New York City and Miller’s hometown of Pittsburgh, as well as Berlin; Dublin; London; Toronto; Auckland, New Zealand and Melbourne and Sydney in Australia.
Tickets are $5, with proceeds benefitting the Mac Miller Fund, which supports “programming, resources and opportunities to youth from underserved communities,” including “exploration in the arts and community building.”
The animated short film, directed by Samuel Jerome Mason, “follows a group of school friends who are transfigured by the music of a chord organ and launched into a shadow world. Swallowed by the turtle of time, they must plod through the underbelly of adulthood.”
The film’s release will be followed by the debut of Miller’s posthumous album “Balloonerism” on Friday.
In a Nov. 21 post announcing “Balloonerism’s” release, Miller’s family wrote, “Many of Malcolm’s fans are aware of Balloonerism, a full length album that Malcolm created around the time of the release of Faces in 2014. It is a project that was of great importance to Malcolm — to the extent that he commissioned artwork for it and discussions concerning when it should be released were had regularly, though ultimately GO:OD AM and subsequent albums ended up taking precedence.”
The post continued, “We believe the project showcases both the breadth of his musical talents and fearlessness as an artist. Given that unofficial versions of the album have circulated online for years and that releasing Balloonerism was something that Malcolm frequently expressed being important to him, we felt it most appropriate to present an official version of the project to the world.”
‘Balloonerism’ coming out exactly 5 years after Mac Miller’s ‘Circles’
The last time Miller’s family shared his unreleased music was the 12-track 2020 album “Circles.” Like “Balloonerism,” it came out on Jan. 17. On Jan. 19, he would have been 33 years old.
Miller died at 26 years old on Sept. 7, 2018, due to a deadly combination of fentanyl, cocaine and alcohol. A month earlier, he’d released his fifth studio album, “Swimming.”
In 2019, three men were charged with distributing drugs that led to Miller’s fatal overdose.
Ryan Michael Reavis in 2021 agreed to plead guilty to supplying counterfeit oxycodone pills containing fentanyl to Cameron James Pettit, who’d sold the drugs to Miller days before he died. Reavis was sentenced to more than 10 years in prison. Stephen Andrew Walter also pleaded guilty to fentanyl distribution in 2021 and was sentenced to 17 years in prison.
Pettit was arrested and charged with selling the drugs to Miller in 2019; as of October, he has been released from federal custody.
