In the opening scene of "The Hummingbird Paints Fragrant Songs" we see an elderly, short Peruvian woman cutting the bark off a mahogany tree. Her name is Sara Flores and the wood is an ingredient she collects to create intricate designs on textiles, following a traditional Peruvian geometrical design system called kené. Flores is unique in becoming internationally famous for her kené artwork; her...

I had never heard of Uppaluri Gopala (or "U.G.") Krishnamurti before seeing the new documentary "The Natural State," which just had its premiere at this month's 2026 Telluride Film Festival. U.G. was famous for being an "anti-guru" who, after a long search for enlightenment, decided that such a mission was misguided and even fatuous. Even so, he was sought out the rest of his...