But these awards aren’t really about star power. They were created to challenge film industry ageism by honoring the contributions of people over 50, both in front of and behind the camera; to help our members find films that appeal to a mature audience; and to encourage Hollywood to produce more work for this important demographic. As Dr. Myechia Minter-Jordan, CEO of AARP, said of the awards, “Powerful storytelling has no age limit.… These honorees are challenging the narrative around aging in Hollywood, pushing back against ageism and setting a new standard for what storytelling can, and should, look like.”

I was honored to share a table with the venerable Edward James Olmos, 79, who welcomed a steady stream of younger stars paying their respects. Olmos wasn’t up for an award this year, but he still got a shout-out from the stage during Noah Wyle’s acceptance speech for best actor in a TV series for The Pitt. “Edward James Olmos, I’ve never even met you,” Wyle, 54, began, “yet you once told an actor that, before Michelangelo began a work of art, he would look to the heavens and say, ‘Lord, rid me of myself so that I may please Thee.’ ” That actor told Wyle about Michelangelo’s prayer, and Wyle says it before every take he does. Wyle has also shared the prayer with “a million other people,” he told Olmos from the stage. “So thank you for passing that forward.” It was touching testimony to the ripple effects of an elder’s shared wisdom.

If you’d like to watch the two-hour ceremony, you can stream it for free through April 30 at aarp.org/MFGAwards and on pbs.org/moviesforgrownups and the PBS app. (The show will be available to PBS subscribers on the network’s platforms through the end of the year.)