I am happy to share that my son Azai's film SHINE was accepted into the Newport Beach Film Festival!

SHINE asks the question almost no one is brave enough to ask out loud. The surprising part is who's asking. Azai Willis was fourteen when he directed it — he saw something clearly that most people miss for a lifetime, then turned it into a film striking enough to win Best Documentary Short at the Santa Monica Film Festival and now it will screen at the Newport Beach film Festival.

What he traces is the quiet machinery of subliminal influence: how it shapes what we want, what we fear, and what we take to be our own — and how that connects to the depression, anxiety and disconnection that have become our new normal.

If you are in the area please come say hi and watch it with us. Come support Azai and other young filmmakers. Hope to see you there!

When: Saturday, Oct. 17th, 11:30am PDT
Where: Regal UTC, 4245 Campus Dr., Irvine 92612, Screen 6

Buy Tickets here! https://nbff2026.eventive.org/schedule/6aa6239d4