Little Birds is a 2011 American film written and directed by Elgin James, and starring Juno Temple and Kay Panabaker.

Alison finds solace under her uncle Hogan's automotives and horses while Lily wants to flee her troubled home life as soon as possible.

Together, the two girls venture into their secluded town and join skateboarding boys from Los Angeles: Louis, David and Jesse, with whom Lily soon becomes smitten.

David discovers a dating website and convinces a hesitant Jesse to use Lily as a bait for scamming and stealing from older men.

[4] James was originally working on an autobiographical project about he and his best friend who left their small towns and joined a gang in Boston.

However, James was worried the film would ultimately "glamorize the violent lifestyle" he'd recently left behind, so he wrote Little Birds instead, substituting two fifteen-year-old girls for him and his best friend.

[2] He chose to focus on the characters of "Lily" and "Alison" after seeing a teenage girl riding on the back of a bike in the Salton Sea, with James saying "You could just tell that she was on fire and she was never going to get out of there", referencing how he felt about being trapped in his own small town as a kid.

"[8] James has said he considers Little Birds to be a love song to the strong women in his life, including Temple.

[9] She and Temple became close by having sleepovers in each other's hotel rooms during the shoot and "watching bad movies and eating junk food together.

[11][10] While debuting to favorable reception at the Sundance Film Festival in 2011,[12][13] when Little Birds had a wider release in 2012 it had much more divisive reviews.

"[14] Film School Rejects called it "A prime example of miserabilist indie cinema and, despite it's [sic] strong craft, consistently a tough sit.

"[6] Betsy Sharkey of the Los Angeles Times said of the characters Lily and Alison "Theirs is a case of innocence not simply lost but crushed like a cigarette under the heel of a shoe."

"[18] About the film, Elgin James told The New York Daily News: “My goal is to take the wreckage of my life and turn it into something beautiful.