YO (Love is a Rebellious Bird)

After losing her friend, Anna has spent a decade obsessively building a detailed 1/3-scale version of her house. The model is just big enough for Anna to squeeze in through the door. Inside lives a puppet of her friend, Yo. When the pair first met, Yo was 73 and Anna just 24. Over the decades, they formed a deep bond that defied the gap in their ages and experiences. After Yo’s death, Anna reconstructed a magical space where Yo’s stories can unfold and their relationship continue.

“Yo (Love is a Rebellious Bird)” 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, motherhood, ageing 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.

The film won the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution at the Berlin International Film Festival.