February, 1^st

Mo woke up on February 1st 2021 and learnt that she had lost her freedom. The army had just taken control of her country, Myanmar, yet again. A year earlier, to the exact day, Leïla had travelled there for the first time as a French tourist, and found in this country a breath of freedom which she had never known before.

“This ambivalence made us question the meaning of freedom. Are there conditions ? Limits ? Is it fair ? With this film we have tried to understand our differences, from one country to another, from one individual story to another, but as well, what links us to others, our passions, our gender or even our need for freedom. Presented as a personal diary in visual form, we explore what it is like to feel foreign, to feel lonely or surrounded by others, to feel strong. We attempt as well to understand the role our pictures play in our lives as women film directors. “February 1st” is the result of creative collaboration from two parts of the world, a collective voice facing geopolitical events which concern all of us. In the end, who really takes over the reins of power in this film ? ” Mo Mo and Leïla