There’s a Brooks Barnes 1.19 N.Y. Times story about six Dramatic Competition selections in Sundance 2011 “that were shaped in the Sundance Institute’s workshops — a record.” But what got me is Barnes’ description of one of these entries — Elgin James‘ Little Birds, a darkish relationship story about two teenage girls — as “buzzy.”

This led to watching the video piece about James and the film, and his remark about how a friendship can get to “the point where you love someone and at the same time they’re stealing your oxygen.”

My sense of James, based on the video and Barnes article, is that he’s been honed by tough if not brutal experiences, and that he’s drawn upon his history as a troubled youth and gang member in making this film, and that he’s basically straight and unpretentious. So Little Girls is on my list. I’m sensing that catching it at the Library will be a better way to go than in a press screening. If anyone connected to the film can help with a ticket, let me know.