YO (Love is a Rebellious Bird)

When filmmaker Anna Fitch, age 24, meets Yo, 73, the pair become inseparable despite their age difference. Years later, as Anna turns 40, she realises she is not ready to lose her best friend. In her latest documentary (co-directed with her husband Banker White), Fitch crafts a poignant and intimate homage to a departed friend. The filmmaking pair combines candid footage from Yo’s final moments with handcrafted sequences shot in a 1/3-scale reproduction of her home, built over a decade of grieving. This miniature becomes the stage for remembering and celebrating Yo’s stories: a life lived on her own terms, challenging conservative notions of religion, sexuality and gender in her native Switzerland, and later on in the United States.

Berlin International Film Festival: Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution