{"id":569047,"date":"2023-04-06T02:55:23","date_gmt":"2023-04-05T23:55:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/hummingbirds-review-border-town-besties-inspired-self-portrait\/"},"modified":"2023-04-06T02:55:23","modified_gmt":"2023-04-05T23:55:23","slug":"hummingbirds-review-border-town-besties-inspired-self-portrait","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/hummingbirds-review-border-town-besties-inspired-self-portrait\/","title":{"rendered":"#\u2018Hummingbirds\u2019 Review: Border-Town Besties\u2019 Inspired Self-Portrait"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a22c5142fd82\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a22c5142fd82\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/hummingbirds-review-border-town-besties-inspired-self-portrait\/#Hummingbirds\" >Hummingbirds<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/hummingbirds-review-border-town-besties-inspired-self-portrait\/#Full_credits\" >Full credits<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/hummingbirds-review-border-town-besties-inspired-self-portrait\/#THR_Newsletters\" >THR Newsletters<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    Silvia Del Carmen Casta\u00f1os and Estefan\u00eda \u201cBeba\u201d Contreras, the directors and subjects of the playful and poetic <em>Hummingbirds<\/em>, like to sing and dance, take selfies and goof around. It would be easy, at quick glance, to dismiss their mischief as youthful self-absorption. It\u2019s youthful self-absorption, to be sure, but something serious, vibrant and compelling courses through the levity. Silvia and Beba are, respectively, a powerful writer and a gifted musician. They were 18 and 21 when they began making the film, and it catches them in that singular in-between state on the edge of full-fledged adulthood. They\u2019re also intimately acquainted with another in-between, one that\u2019s not as ephemeral: As Mexican immigrants in Laredo, a city on the Texas side of the Rio Grande, they live in an actual borderland.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    Shot mostly in the summer of 2019, <em>Hummingbirds<\/em>, which received a jury award upon its Berlin premiere and took its North American bow at True\/False, is the product of what the filmmakers call a \u201ccollaborative <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>renticeship model of filmmaking.\u201d Drawing inspiration from such films as the Polish documentary <em>All These Sleepless Nights<\/em>, the helmers were mentored by creative pros including co-directors (Jillian Schlesinger, Miguel Drake-McLaughlin, Ana Rodr\u00edguez-Falc\u00f3, Diane Ng) and an editor (Isidore Bethel, whose credits include <em>What We Leave Behind<\/em>). The resulting dual self-portrait has the sheen of summertime fun and the bright energy of creative focus for besties who are smart and terrifically likable. They\u2019re people who had to grow up fast, aware from an early age of their families\u2019 financial strains and, especially, their anxieties over immigration policy.<\/p>\n<div class=\"review-summary-card\">\n<div class=\" lrv-u-flex lrv-u-flex-direction-column@mobile-max lrv-u-padding-a-125 u-background-color-honey-light \">\n<div class=\"lrv-u-flex lrv-u-flex-direction-column u-width-275@tablet u-border-b-1@mobile-max u-border-r-1@tablet u-border-dotted lrv-u-margin-r-150 lrv-u-padding-r-150 lrv-u-margin-r-00@mobile-max lrv-u-padding-r-00@mobile-max lrv-u-padding-b-125@mobile-max lrv-u-margin-b-075@mobile-max\">\n<h3 id=\"title-of-a-story\" class=\"c-title  lrv-u-font-family-primary u-font-size-34 u-font-size-38@desktop-xl lrv-u-line-height-small lrv-u-margin-b-125 \"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Hummingbirds\"><\/span>\n<p>                    Hummingbirds        <\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>                    <span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase lrv-u-font-family-accent lrv-u-font-weight-bold lrv-u-color-brand-primary lrv-u-font-size-16 lrv-u-display-block\">The Bottom Line<\/span><br \/>\n                    <span class=\"c-span  u-font-size-22@tablet u-font-style-italic lrv-u-font-family-secondary\"><\/p>\n<p>    Politically fueled and summer-bright.<br \/>\n    <\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<p>                            <strong>Directors: <\/strong>Silvia Del Carmen Casta\u00f1os, Estefan\u00eda \u201cBeba\u201d Contreras<br \/><span><br \/>\n                                1 hour 17 minutes           <\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    Beba is awaiting her papers and managing expectations, hoping for resident status but not daring to dream of citizenship. An elemental part of her story is a memory she carries that isn\u2019t directly her own but something that\u2019s been described to her: crossing the border on her mother\u2019s shoulders. Both Beba and Silvia do recall being deported as kids, and though the full sweep of their biographies is never made crystal-clear, details emerge, in conversational bits and pieces, about families divided across the U.S.-Mexico border and childhoods cut short by the need to take care of younger siblings. When they sneak, with other friends, into a luxury house under construction, there\u2019s something sweet and earnest, beneath the wiseassery, in the way they imagine themselves inhabiting such a place.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    There\u2019s a daring, openhearted vulnerability in the way they channel their experiences into art \u2014 Silvia\u2019s poems, Beba\u2019s songs and her sister\u2019s dancing \u2014 and also into activism. On the latter front, their concerns are twofold: callous treatment of those immigrating to the States from southern neighbors, and dwindling access to safe and legal reproductive health care, including abortion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    Delivering a presentation on the latter issue, Silvia proves an eloquent advocate in a formal setting. That\u2019s something of an evolution from a sequence earlier in the doc when she, Beba and their friend Jeffrey set out on a nighttime mission to change the message of an anti-abortion sign. In dress-up for their adventure in vandalism , they\u2019re performing for the cameras, but also performing something on a higher order. Their bandannas might be jokey ways of masking their identities, but Beba and Silvia wear shirts that announce \u201c<em>Tuve un aborto<\/em>\u201d (\u201cI had an abortion\u201d), and Jeffrey\u2019s gauzy femme get-up announces an aspect of his identity without apology.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    Jeffrey\u2019s birthday celebration in a bowling alley with Beba and Silvia is an especially lovely section of the film. The way these three mock parental admonitions is spot-on satire, and alive with affection. In a different way, so is the hyper-silly mode that takes hold of Beba and Silvia when they accompany Beba\u2019s mother to a bingo <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/game\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"7\" title=\"Game\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">game<\/a> that she takes very seriously.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    The spark and embrace of love and acceptance is the root of the film. There\u2019s nothing soft or mushy about it. The escapades involving trespassing, protest, street food and nightlife that Silvia Del Carmen Casta\u00f1os and Estefan\u00eda Contreras document are fleeting moments, ephemeral yet life-shaping. They\u2019re captured fireflies that, like the tattoo Beba does for Silvia, will last.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"review-full-cast \/\/ \">\n<h2 id=\"section-heading\" class=\"c-heading larva  a-font-primary-xs lrv-u-border-b-1 lrv-u-border-color-grey lrv-u-padding-tb-050\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Full_credits\"><\/span>\n<p>        Full credits<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>            Production companies: Extra Terrestrial in association with\u00a0Ford Foundation, JustFilms, Field of Vision, Cowboy Bear Ninja<br \/>Directors: Silvia Del Carmen Casta\u00f1os, Estefan\u00eda \u201cBeba\u201d Contreras<br \/>Co-directors: Jillian Schlesinger, Miguel Drake-McLaughlin, Ana Rodr\u00edguez-Falc\u00f3, Diane Ng<br \/>Producers: Jillian Schlesinger, Miguel Drake-McLaughlin, Ana Rodr\u00edguez-Falc\u00f3, Diane Ng, Leslie Benavides, Rivkah Beth Medow<br \/>Executive producers: Rivkah Beth Medow Jen Rainin, Robina Riccitiello, Gill Holland<br \/>Director of photography: Miguel Drake-McLaughlin<br \/>Co-director of photography: Diane Ng<br \/>Editors: Isidore Bethel, Jillian Schlesinger<br \/>Music: Estefan\u00eda \u201cBeba\u201d Contreras, Elijah Cruz, Brendan Hoy<br \/>Title animations: Yensey Desir\u00e9e Murillo<br \/>Sales: Extra Terrestrial Films<br \/>\u00a0<br \/>In English and Spanish<br \/><span><br \/>\n                                1 hour 17 minutes           <\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"newsletter-cta\">\n<div class=\"lrv-u-margin-tb-125 lrv-u-margin-tb-150@desktop-xl lrv-u-padding-tb-2 lrv-u-flex lrv-u-justify-content-space-between lrv-u-border-t-1 lrv-u-border-b-1 lrv-u-align-items-center lrv-u-flex-direction-column@mobile-max lrv-u-padding-a-2@mobile-max\">\n<div class=\"lrv-u-text-align-center@mobile-max\">\n<h2 id=\"section-heading\" class=\"c-heading larva  a-font-primary-xs lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"THR_Newsletters\"><\/span>\n<p>        THR Newsletters<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"c-tagline  a-font-secondary-italic-s lrv-u-margin-a-00 lrv-u-margin-b-150@mobile-max\">Sign up for THR <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news<\/a> straight to your inbox every day<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>    <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"c-button larva  lrv-a-unstyle-button lrv-u-cursor-pointer lrv-u-padding-tb-075 lrv-u-padding-lr-150 lrv-u-border-color-brand-accent lrv-u-border-a-1 a-font-accent-bold-s lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase lrv-u-color-brand-accent u-margin-l-150@tablet\" href=\"https:\/\/cloud.email.hollywoodreporter.com\/signup\/\"><\/p>\n<p>    <span class=\"c-button__inner \"><br \/>\n        Subscribe   <\/span><\/p>\n<p>            <span class=\"lrv-a-screen-reader-only\">Sign Up<\/span><\/p>\n<p>    <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/plain\" class=\"optanon-category-C0004\">\n!function(f, b, e, v, n, t, s) {\nif (f.fbq) return;\nn = f.fbq = function() {n.callMethod ? n.callMethod.apply(n, arguments) : n.queue.push(arguments);};\nif (!f._fbq) f._fbq = n;\nn.push = n;\nn.loaded = !0;\nn.version = '2.0';\nn.queue = [];\nt = b.createElement(e);\nt.async = !0;\nt.src = v;\ns = b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\ns.parentNode.insertBefore(t, s);\n}(window, document, 'script', 'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\nfbq('init', '352999048212581');\nfbq('track', 'PageView');\n<\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more Like this articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/social-media\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Social Media category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/movies\/movie-reviews\/hummingbirds-review-1235358410\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Silvia Del Carmen Casta\u00f1os and Estefan\u00eda \u201cBeba\u201d Contreras, the directors and subjects of the playful and poetic Hummingbirds, like to sing and dance, take selfies and goof around. It would be easy, at quick glance, to dismiss their mischief as youthful self-absorption. It\u2019s youthful self-absorption, to be sure, but something serious, vibrant and compelling courses&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":569048,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Film-Still2_Silvia-Del-Carmen-Castanos-and-Estefania-Beba-Contreras-Photo-Courtesy-of-Hummingbirds-H-2023.jpg?w=1024","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[5622,142180],"class_list":["post-569047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-mediaa","tag-documentary","tag-true-false-film-fest"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=569047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569047\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/569048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=569047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=569047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=569047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}