In Atmos

In Atmos is a Canadian-American 1993 animated science fiction film directed by Noelle Bradford and written by Bradford and Victor Yearts. The film follows a young girl in 1870s France who wishes to fly that joins a man travelling the world in a hot air balloon trying to find sacred treasure in a city hidden in the skies.

Plot
There is said to be a city hidden in the clouds of the earth by the name of Ariagon, it is an ancient city, said to be populated by powerful gods. Many people have tried to find the city, but many have failed.

Rosa Basset is a young eleven year old girl residing in France in 1879 on a large farm, she wants to get into the hot air balloon business, but her mother objects to this, she wants Rosa to follow in her footsteps and become a nun for their local church. She often fanaticizes about being a successful ballooner while she works on the farm. One morning, after finishing a pile of work, Rosa goes to a local hot air balloon festival. She asks her mother, but she refuses to let her, finding it to only be a fad.

Rosa secretly takes some money and heads off to the festival, she rides on some balloons and everything is fine, but during one ride, an inexperienced worker becomes unable to get Rosa and two others in the balloon their in down to the ground, Rosa offers to help, saying she may know what to do, she is rejected however, the worker arrogantly saying they know what they're doing. They however, don't know what they're doing as they go above the clouds and where the air becomes thinner and as the worker tries to get everyone down, they suddenly pass out from a lack of oxygen. Rosa, struggling to stay conscious, takes this chance to get the balloon down.

She successfully does so, but she does however crash the balloon to the ground, effectively destroying it. As she gets out of the rubble of the aircraft, she is greeted by a crowd, who have been watching this unfold, they cheer her on, seemingly proud of her courage in the turn of events. But also in this crowd is her mother, who runs out of it to grab her daughter and bring her back home. Rosa receives severe punishment because of what happened at the festival.

She is sent to bed early, where she reflects on the current day and thinks about her future. Later in the night, Rosa is sound asleep, but suddenly, a large crash erupts outside, waking Rosa, she seems to be the only one awoken though, as she gets up to get outside to see what has happened.

When she gets out the door, she is greeted to an incredible sight, the sight of a large hot air balloon, in the balloon are two people, Hayes and Rhett Watson, a father-duo on quest to find the city of Ariagon. They have stopped at the farm, thinking it's a field. Hayes hops out of the balloon, and remarks that it's the worse thing he's seen since Italy. Rosa calls out to Hayes, he seems a bit startled by the sight of Rosa, but takes this chance to explain himself, he walks over to Rosa and quickly explains that he and his son were planning to land in a field for the night. Rosa asks why they're in a balloon in the first place, to which he quickly explains he's trying to find Ariagon, but doesn't explain any further.

Then, Rosa's mother awakes and calls out to her, Hayes hears her, and tells Rosa that he has to go, but that he will be back as he hops back into his balloon and disappears in the sky.

The next day, while Rosa does more work, this time she's under heavy watch from her mother, making sure she doesn't get into another balloon again. While her mother looks away, Rosa looks into the sky, waiting for Hayes to return.

When nighttime arrives, Rosa's mother heads to bed, but Rosa stays awake behind her back.

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Script
Main article: In Atmos/Transcript