Maï & Miles

Maïmouna Bocoum is a brilliant French Senegalese physicist; Miles Jay, a gifted American jazz musician. Young and deeply in love, they’ve spent three years navigating a long distance relationship between Paris and Los Angeles. The film opens as they take a bold step: to begin a new life together in LA. We follow their journey over two years as they overcome a series of obstacles to relocate Maï’s prestigious academic career and pursue their dream of starting a family.

There are many trials along the way. Maï leaves her post at the quantum laboratory of the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen and begins the long process of immigrating to the United States. She’s been invited as a visiting scholar at Caltech’s quantum lab and hopes it might lead to a permanent position. Miles moves to Pasadena to be within walking distance of the university just weeks before the Altadena fires engulf his former home—narrowly saving his instruments and livelihood. Then, just as Maï submits her spousal visa application, Trump is re-elected for a second term. She endures long, uncertain months in Paris while watching U.S. immigration tighten and science funding shrink. When Maï becomes pregnant before being able to join Miles, the emotional stakes rise even higher. Yet through every twist, their commitment to one another never wavers.

Set against a backdrop of social upheaval, the LA wildfires, rising nationalism, and the erosion of public support for the arts and sciences their story becomes one of quiet defiance. Their love and intellectual curiosity stand as a subtle yet powerful act of resistance, showing how beauty, meaning, and connection can endure even in turbulent times.