Little Birds is the first screenplay by writer-director Elgin James, a man who spent his teenage years homeless and leading a national street gang that robbed skinheads and drug dealers to give the money to charity. After choosing to leave violence behind, James eventually became one of Variety’s Directors to Watch in 2011. Little Birds takes a subtle cue from James’ past as it follows the story of two teenage girls, Lily (Juno Temple) and her best friend Alison (Kay Panabaker), as they meet a group of visiting street kids and decide to follow them back to Los Angeles. Lily, desperate to avoid the same fate as her manic mother (Leslie Mann) and washed-up aunt (Kate Bosworth), finds herself in a dangerous, life-changing situation that tests how far she will go to grow up. The film is shown at the Art Theatre with a Q&A session with James to follow.
Thu., Nov. 15, 9 p.m., 2012
