Films

In the forests of southern Nepal, a mother searches for her missing daughter as wild elephants roam the night, in a haunting and tender story of chosen family, belonging, and survival.

Born in the wake of China’s controversial one-child policy, six-year-old Juan is suddenly uprooted from her family when her mom becomes pregnant in this achingly poignant coming-of-age story from first-time feature director Zou Jing.

Some things arrive in waves: sunlight, joy, but also grief and loss. Director Phuong Mai Nguyen’s animated adaptation of AJ Dungo’s 2019 graphic novel is an indelible story of love between two teenagers and their passion for each other and the sea.

A hesitant, complex relationship develops between two married couples when a wealthy, well-meaning pair befriends working-class partners, victims of brutal economic injustice.

MVFF partners with CalArts, UC Santa Cruz, UCLA, California College of the Arts, and CSU Long Beach for a stellar showcase of animated work directed by female and nonbinary filmmakers. This selection features films reflecting family, friendship, life, death, and cultural identity.

"If music could talk, which means whatever your mind can bring.” This collection of documentary short films invite a sense of curiosity and quest, seeking to grasp human thought, motive, and expression. In Nita Blum and Jonathan Pickett’s A NEW INFERNO (US 2026, 16 min), paramedics race to save the lives of heatstroke victims using a radical new treatment. With an experimental sensibility, Karla Condado’s MIRIAM (Mexico 2025, 19 min) copes with grief as the filmmaker reads personal letters to her aunt who was a victim of femicide. Along the picturesque coastline of Brittany, France, bright orange novelty Garfield phones wash ashore in Zack Grant’s eccentric SILLY LITTLE PLASTIC CAT (France/US 2026 12 min). In SWING SWISH SWAY (US 2026, 7 min), TT Takemoto's colorful and tangible reconstruction of history is inspired by Filipina-American Rose Bamberger, founder of Daughters of Bilitis, San Francisco’s own first lesbian activist group. Free-spirited and expressive, Charlie Eguia’s HAPPINESS FOR A HERDER (US/Mongolia 2026, 16 min) follows a group of nomadic herder families in Mongolia. —Diana Sánchez Maciel

“But go easy Step lightly Stay free.” As we grow older, we tend to abandon all inherent free spirit and audacity. This collection of short documentary films brings those feelings flooding back, allowing us to live vicariously through these bold, intrepid, and resilient characters. In THE RIGHT FIT (US 2025, 12 min), Max Mollring and Nicolas Collins introduce the owner of a one-of-a-kind small business in San Rafael. Intimate and observational, Hao Zhou's AT THE STAGE WHEN (China 2026, 15 min) follows a young urban couple experiencing societal pressure around parenthood. Composed of black-and-white 35mm photographs, A TOWN CALLED NEEDVILLE (US/Canada 2026, 5 min) traces filmmaker Audrey Lane's inpatient stay at an all-women’s mental health facility in Texas. A collaboration between Ukrainian painter Alla Hurenko and directors Natalie Shirinian and Elizabeth Baudouin, ROOM OF THE ABSOLUTE (US, Ukraine 2026, 18 min) is a time capsule and portrait of resilience in the face of relentless destruction in Ukraine. It is 1980 in Yuba City, California, in Reaa Puri’s HARVEST PARTY AT CAMP TWO (US 2026, 16 min), and a group of Young Punjabi Sikh farmworkers throw the biggest party their small town has ever seen. —Diana Sánchez Maciel

Often presented as secondary to his climbing partner Edmund Hillary in the story of the first successful summit of Mount Everest, Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay’s life amidst the Himalayas comes into sharp relief in this stirring biopic.

What begins with an unexpected connection between two families becomes a tender, quietly funny portrait of love, loss, and belonging, reminding us that sometimes the family we find is the one we never imagined.

A hesitant, complex relationship develops between two married couples when a wealthy, well-meaning pair befriends working-class partners, victims of brutal economic injustice.

Intimate and observational, At the Stage When follows a young urban couple experiencing societal pressure around parenthood.

Free-spirited and expressive, Charlie Eguia’s Happiness for a Herder follows a group of nomadic herder families in Mongolia.

What happens when what you thought you wanted no longer fulfills. Should you take that giant leap into the unknown?

A moving tale of three generations of Chinese women whose dreams and struggles are linked by one pair of scissors.

When the agents from the underworld come to her door, an elderly woman resists their call until certain conditions are met.

Inspired by the life of Queen Hsin Phyu Ma Shin and the late 19th-century massacre at Mandalay Palace—a tale of intrigue among the royalty in Myanmar.