Sally Aitken’s Every Little Thing will follow Jon Bell’s The Moogai on the journey from Sundance to SXSW after being added to the latter’s Festival Favourites section.
Inspired by Terry Masear’s 2015 book Fastest Things on Wings: Rescuing Hummingbirds in Hollywood, the film follows the Los Angeles-based author on a transformative quest as she nurtures wounded hummingbirds, experiencing personal growth as she witnesses their fragility and resilience.
WildBear Entertainment’s Bettina Dalton produces with Dogwoof’s Oli Harbottle and Anna Godas. Executive producers include Avid Guy Elisco, Sean B. Carroll, Alan Erson and Michael Tear, and heads of department include cinematographers Nathan Barlow, Dan Freene and Ann Prum, editor Tania Nehme and composer Caitlin Yeo.
The documentary will head to Austin on the back of a positive reception from last month’s Sundance Film Festival, where it had its world premiere as part of the US Documentary competition.
In her review for The Hollywood Reporter, Sheri Linden wrote that the film was “involving from start to finish” with its emotional hold “as powerful as the hummingbirds are fragile”. IndieWire‘s Kate Erbland was similarly positive in her assessment, describing Every Little Thing as a “big celebration of tiny things and the special person who has made it all possible”.
Speaking to IF, Dalton said it was exciting to see the film break through to the Sundance and SXSW line-ups.
“It’s a film for a time when people are hurting,” she said.
“It’s not just about the magic and majesty of hummingbirds; it really is about healing dealing with trauma, so it’s very multi-layered.
“We’re thrilled because the SXSW audience is different again from the Sundance audience. [Austin] is a university town and [SXSW] is more accessible to attend than Sundance, so it’s a real honour to have the film screen there. There’s five or six hummingbirds that migrate through Texas, so there’ll be a local degree of appreciation as well that we are looking forward to sharing.”
Every Little Thing is one of several Australian titles set to be showcased as part of this year’s SXSW alongside aforementioned horror The Moogai, Audrey and Birdeater. Sydney-shot blockbuster The Fall Guy will headline this year’s event, which runs from from March 16-24.
Find the full line-up here.