BAY AREA SENIOR/AGING ASIA AND SOUTHEAST ASIA INTEREST LGBTQ+ MENTAL HEALTH FEMALE DIRECTOR COMING OF AGE WAR ACTIVISM MUSIC

Shorts: Stay Free

• 72 MINS

“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

EXPECTED GUESTS

MAX MOLLRING: Director, Writer, Producer NICOLAS COLLINS: Director, Writer, Producer, Editor JONATHAN SALAZAR: Producer, Cinematographer TOM DIETRRICH: Cast

Harvest Party at Camp Two: Rajan Gill (Director, Producer), Reaa Puri (Director, Producer, Editor)

Room of the Absolute: Elizabeth Baudouin (Director, Producer), Jocelyne Chaput (Editor, Editor)

The Right Fit: Jonathan Salazar (Producer, Cinematographer), Max Mollring (Director, Writer, Producer), Nicolas Collins (Director, Writer, Producer, Editor), Tom Diettrich (Cast)