Yo (Love is a rebellious bird)
September 17, 2026
h. 21:00
International Contest
Brief Synopsis:
Anna spends a decade obsessively building a detailed 1/3-scale version of her friend’s house after losing her. It’s just big enough for Anna to squeeze through the door. Inside lives a puppet of her friend Yo. When the pair met, Yo was 73 and Anna just 24. Over the decades, they form a deep bond. After Yo’s death, Anna re-constructs a magical space where Yo’s stories unfold, and their relationship continues. The film juxtaposes intimate vérité of Yo’s last year with Anna’s creative interpretations of Yo’s dramatic life stories. Born in Switzerland in 1924, Yo lived life on her own terms, defying expectations around sexuality, mothering, aging, and even death. As the film blurs memory, time and invention, it also reveals the power of artistic creation to channel – and share – grief and love.
Director’s Notes:
After Yo died, I couldn’t look at the footage for a long time. I was drawn to the material things she had left behind; her old sweater, perfume, fabrics, and old photographs. I began building a series of physical objects and ultimately constructed a ⅓ scale version of Yo’s house (and everything in it). Her home appears in the film as a portal between the past and present, memory and myth. The process of creating physical things inspired by Yo’s life and stories opened up a space where our relationship could continue. It is in this invented, magical world that our film takes place. It centers around five stories that she tells me about her past. These epic tales span eight decades and three continents, inviting us into her detailed memories. Each story holds a moment of transformation. We bring each story to life through the ritual act of building miniature worlds, puppets, and paper dioramas. Making physical objects became a way to process grief and keep Yo with me through my own life transitions in the 10 years after she passed.