Indian South African filmmaker Advik Beni's enchanting and mysterious movie "mother, you have not died yet. but you will. And when you do, you will finally be alive again." had its North American premiere this weekend at the Camden International Film Festival in Maine. I don't have any information about distribution in the U.S. but I recommend seeing it when you can. In post-apartheid Durban,...

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...