At 40, Sheila Malkind realized that 70-year-olds could teach her a thing or two. So she began questioning folks she worked with at Chicago's Department on Aging.
"I'd ask what advice they would give me about aging well," Malkind said. "They all told me: Live out your dreams."
And so she has. Now 70 and settled in San Francisco, Malkind -- a photographer, writer, dancer, mother, speaker and film buff -- is the curator of the first International Film Festival on Aging, opening this week in the Bay Area.
Fresh views of later life couldn't be timelier. The global population is graying so rapidly that by 2150, according to a recent U.N. study, 1 in every 3 people will be 60 or older.
"There are so many misperceptions of aging that even older people accept," Malkind said recently over tea in her home. "Native Americans call their elders 'wisdom keepers.' It would be nice if we believed that."
The three-day festival, presented by the nonprofit Pacific Institute and AgeSong Senior Communities, offers a kind of corrective. Among the films are documentaries on romance and relationships, friendship and caregiving.
"These are very honest films about trying to find balance," Malkind said.
In "The Sandwich Generation," Julie Winokur tells the story of moving, with her young family, from California to New Jersey so her father can live with them.
"Paradise" is a wry portrait of a long-married Swedish couple during a visit to their rustic, waterfront summer home.
"Gotta Dance" features the halftime performances of the senior-citizen hip-hop dance team of the NBA's New Jersey Nets. And in "88 Years in the Closet," a lesbian finally comes out, to her joy.
"These films give us new models of aging," said Nader Shabahangi, CEO of the Pacific Institute and AgeSong. "They are models that are not captured by mainstream ideas about 'healthy aging' or 'successful aging.' After all, everyone has their own life path."
"Tillie Olsen: A Heart in Action," an homage to the activist author by Annie Hershey, includes footage from Olsen's readings and interviews with Gloria Steinem, Alice Walker and others.
"Sweet Old Song" unspools the life story of singular African-American musician Howard "Louie Bluie" Armstrong through the lens of his longtime romantic relationship with Barbara Ward, an artist 30 years his junior.
If the films vary in mood and tone, together they show that personal growth and adventure -- from spiritual vision quests to friendship and romance -- should not be relegated to the young.
"People make their lives meaningful in many ways," Malkind said, adding her mantra: "As long as we're alive, why not take risks? Why not try new things?"
The International Film Festival on Aging is scheduled for Friday through Sunday at theaters in San Francisco and Emeryville. For more information, visit www.filmfestonaging.org or www.legacyfilms.com.
(E-mail Heidi Benson at hbenson(at)sfchronicle.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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