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FEATURE FILMS & SHORTS PROGRAMS
Through intimate camerawork shaped with the narrative tension of a crime thriller, Michał Marczak’s award-winning film follows a father’s relentless pursuit along Poland’s Vistula River to find his missing son.
For the first time, MVFF will empanel a jury of film professionals to honor Best Narrative and Best Documentary Shorts from among the shorts screening at this year’s festival.
Not every short was in competition. From the pre-selected titles, the jury has determined the top three in each category, as well as a winner in each.
The winners will be announced during the Shorts Award Program on Sunday, Oct. 11.
MVFF SHORT FILM JURY PRIZE SPONSORED BY REDBREAST UNHIDDEN SHORTS
ARE WE STILL MARRIED? • Director: Kit Steinkellner | Narrative Winner
THE RIGHT FIT • Directors: Nicolas Collins, Max Mollring | Documentary Winner
GRAVITY • Director: Dalya Keleş | Special Jury Prize
“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
Desperate to escape her volatile home life, Ali takes a leap of faith and hops on a bus to Venice Beach where a vivacious band of unhoused young adults take her under their wing.
The promising life of an Olympic-bound gymnast is cut short, but her presence lives on through an enduring mother-daughter bond reaching beyond the physical world—exploring the mysteries of cellular memory, spirit, and our connections across life and death.
SPOTLIGHTS, TRIBUTES & PANELS
SHORT FILMS
Intimate and observational, At the Stage When follows a young urban couple experiencing societal pressure around parenthood.
Composed of black-and-white 35mm photographs, A Town Called Needville traces filmmaker Audrey Lane's inpatient stay at an all-women’s mental health facility in Texas.