Synopsis

There are so many choices in our everyday lives! Everyone has their own journey, their own direction, their own azimuth. Olivier Higgins and Mélanie Carrier chose a journey, however, most would call it a long adventure, approximately 8000 kilometres long. Riding their bicycles & pedaling through Asia. Olivier & Mélanie traveled from Mongolia to Kolkata, to the mouth of the Ganges in India, through Xinjiang, the Taklamakan Desert, Tibet and Nepal. Along the way, they discovered the world, but over all, they discovered themselves. Who are they? What do they want? What is their place in this world? Maybe, between the encounters, obstacles and the discoveries, this daring journey made them reflex... Do we not all have a common "Asiemut"?

Why «Asiemut»?

First of all, an azimuth, with a Z and in English with an H at the end, refers to a compass bearing. Every day, each of us must make choices that give a meaning to our life, a direction, an azimuth. At this time, our choice was to go with our bicycles, to meet the people of Asia: Asie in French, so that’s why we made the word Asiemut, spelling it A-S-I-E-M-U-T. Our own azimuth: riding on two wheels, shooting our first documentary.

The origins

At 18 years old, we leave our homes for the first time. For Olivier, it was Australia and for Melanie, Europe. Far from being rich, with no substantial traveling experience in our bundles, a new world revealed itself to us. At first, it was curiosity and discovery: we were hitchhiking, meeting loads of interesting people and trying, despite hardships, not to be too touristy. Subsequently, the need to share, to learn more about different cultures and ways of living took over. This is when we decided together to create projects. We initially thought we could teach things to people, but we rapidly realized that it was something else, far beyond that. On the contrary, it was us who were learning: about ourselves as well as on our ways of life, our values, on the luck we had to live in a privileged society, technologically advanced. On the other hand, we also learned that this privilege has its share of inconveniences: our advanced society is materialistic and individualistic. We also understood that it is possible for each and every one of us to feel, a little more every day, that we are citizens of the world.

Projects then succeeded one after the other: India, Nepal, Madagascar, South Africa, Reunion Island and Mexico. Each time, we came back enriched, knowing that we had, in some ways, touched the hearts and the conscience of a few people. Every time we showed video images of our traveling experiences to our friends and families, we realized the impact a single image could have on one person. The effect was impressive.

This is how we felt the need to share in a wider perspective our ideas, our ideals. Then, we had the idea of directing our first film, which would allow the viewers to live the adventure of simplicity, the one of two western nomads, sharing their thoughts and values during their long journey through Mongolia, China, Tibet and India.

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