Sally Aitken’s documentary “Every Little Thing” literally generates buzz, and both those with a fondness for hummingbirds and those who never much thought about them are bound to be enchanted by its depiction of these tiny, fragile creatures.

Hummingbirds are described as “sweet warriors” by Terry Masear, a hummingbird rehabber in Los Angeles. She runs a center for the tiny, injured birds, and explains that while the smallest birds in the world are sweet, they are also fierce. Hummingbirds can flap their wings 50 times a second and fly vertically, backward and upside-down, but they will also fight to the death in nature. 

Some things seem to transcend reality despite living within it; they feel extraterrestrial, metaphysical, or simply fantastical. Call it the Kantian noumenon (or don't, your call). Hummingbirds are undoubtedly among these. Their wings beat 50 times per second on average (and up to 80 beats per second), using a complicated figure-eight motion that creates wake vortices beneath each wing. Like delightful little drones, they can hover almost perfectly still and move in any direction. The way they fly is more efficient than helicopters.

“It’s a hard world for small things,” says Lillian Gish’s Rachel Cooper in The Night of the Hunter. Those words come to mind while watching Sally Aitken’s modestly informative and gently profound Every Little Thing about a Los Angeles-based hummingbird rescue. If there’s any fault to be found in this aptly titled documentary (here, the concern for the minuscule extends to the film’s title being spelled in lower-case letters), it’s that it doesn’t exactly benefit from its formulaic voiceover and other supplementary audio.

The most amazing thing about the recurring slow-motion sequences of hovering hummingbirds in Every Little Thing is the stillness of their tiny heads, even as their wings flap and their little bodies shift in air. As Terry Masear tells us, among other remarkable things, the wings of a hummingbird flap fifty times per second. She rightly asks, how can you know this and not tap into some magical realism? It might be said that those who do tap into magical realism in our world have much of it in themselves.

There are two species of birds that always leave me awe-struck when I see them in person. One is the majestic bald eagle, a large bird of prey, and the other is the hummingbird, the smallest bird in the world.

The Alliance of Women Film Journalists highlights movies made by and about women. With a vigilant eye toward current releases, we maintain an interactive record of films that are pertinent to our interests. Be they female-made or female-centric productions, they are films that represent a wide range of women’s stories and present complex female characters. As such, they are movies that will most likely be reviewed on AWFJ.org and will qualify for consideration for our annual EDA Awards, celebrating exceptional women working in film behind and in front of the camera.

WILD HOPE: Mission Impossible is a "real-world case study" on turning high-emission animal farms into carbon-capturing forests.

Pat Brown, the founder and CEO of plant-based meat company Impossible Foods, is the subject of a new documentary about his attempt to turn cattle ranches into forests. 

The film, titled WILD HOPE: Mission Impossible, follows Brown and scientist Michael Eisen as they investigate how to convert former cattle ranches into biodiverse, carbon-capturing forests on a thousand-acre property in Arkansas they name “The Carbon Ranch.”

No species exists in a vacuum. It is part of a community, dependent on its neighbors for survival. That’s why recent news that the red-cockaded woodpecker has been moved from endangered to threatened is a reason to celebrate. It also comes with a note of caution and concern for its future.