Charliebird

Al (Samantha Smart) works as a music therapist at a children’s hospital, taking things day by day and trying to make ends meet. Charlie (Gabriela Ochoa Perez) comes into her life as a patient, an ever immovable and unmotivated teenager. As their worlds collide following the revelation of a secret passion project, Al and the pessimistic young Charlie become a source of strength and love for each other whilst they chart a course through an unknown future.

Libby Ewing’s feature directorial debut brings into focus the necessity for care in the medical sense but also personally and emotionally. Smart and Ochoa Perez lead a stellar cast in this insightful journey into how unintended — or frankly unimaginable — connections between strangers can tap into universal needs and desires.—Casey Baron