When Bay Area real estate developer and philanthropist John A. Sobrato talks, people tend to listen. He had a powerful message Tuesday when People Acting in Community Together (PACT) honored him at its luncheon in San Jose.

He encouraged the crowd of more than 300 people to help the most vulnerable people in the community meet today’s challenges.

“Now more than ever, those that can give, should give bigger. Those that can serve as a volunteer should bring others to serve with them. I can assure you that you will have great joy in doing so and become good examples of faith and action,” said Sobrato, who credits his family and his Jesuit education at Bellarmine College Prep and Santa Clara University with his value system.

“Throughout my life I have seen that when ordinary people come together with purpose and compassion, extraordinary things become possible,” he said.

The overflow crowd at the Mexican Heritage Plaza also celebrated the 40th anniversary of PACT, an interfaith group founded in 1985 to encourage grassroots community organizing. That mission is exemplified by PACT’s other “Faith in Action” honoree Tuesday, the Immigrant Protection and Empowerment Network. The network, known as IPEN and led by Akemi Flynn, was launched by the nonprofit Amigos de Guadalupe to provide legal and emotional support for immigrant families facing deportation and separation.

The Rev. Jon Pedigo, who became PACT’s executive director in February, said he was overwhelmed by the attendance at the luncheon and thought it showed strong support for PACT’s mission. “Community organizing helps us understand that ‘we’ are the people, all of us together,” he said. “What community organizing does is — it develops the voice of people who don’t feel they are seen as one of ‘the people.’ ”

IT’S A MOVIE BUFFET: It’s been a great month for South Bay film festival fans, and after the 16th annual Silicon Valley African Film Festival last weekend, two more big movie showcases are coming up this weekend.

First up is the return of the San Jose International Short Film Festival, which opens Thursday night and runs through Sunday at the Cinearts theater at Santana Row. “Limitless” is the theme of the 17th annual festival, which will feature more than 150 short films sorted into 20 viewing blocks. You can get the full schedule, as well as ticket and pass information, at sjsff.com.

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Festival co-founder Bill Hargreaves says short films might require a bit more from an audience than a feature-length movie, which has more time to introduce a backstory and character motivations. But he sees plenty of room for both formats.

“Our goal has always been to celebrate the best in independent cinema, to champion brash and complex storytelling that would rival anything at your local cineplex, but this is not to replace those multi-million dollar feature projects,” he said. “Instead, our hope is to complement them with an entirely different type of storytelling.”

Meanwhile, the Silicon Valley Asian Pacific FilmFest is opening Friday night in Sunnyvale with “Third Act,” a documentary by Tadashi Nakamura about his father, Robert A. Nakamura, known as the “Godfather of Asian American Film.” The festival continues at the AMC Sunnyvale theater through Sunday, and you can get schedule and ticket information at svapfilmfest.org.

NOT SO FAST, GILROY: This Sunday was supposed to be the first Gilroy Open Streets, an event similar to Viva CalleSJ in San Jose when a few miles of streets are closed to motor vehicles and open for bicycles, runners, skaters and strollers. Unfortunately for anyone looking forward to enjoying a car-free day, the event has been cancelled.

Organizer Open Space Allies posted on Instagram that it was due to those tricky “unforeseen circumstances,” but I’ve heard through the garlic-vine that the city pulled the plug on the event with just a few days notice. Good news next month, though: An open streets event in Morgan Hill is still planned for Nov. 2.

DRIVE AWAY WITH A DOG: Capitol Subaru is really going to the dogs on Wednesday, as the San Jose dealership is hosting an adoption event for the San Jose Animal Care Center. Shelter dogs will be available to visit — and adopt — in the showroom at 920 Capitol Expressway from 1 to 3 p.m., and the first 10 adopters will get a kit from Subaru that includes a tote bag, a dashboard squeaker and a snuffle mat for the pooch.

Capitol Subaru selected the San Jose Animal Care Center as its partner for this year’s Subaru Loves Pets program, which includes a $5,000 grant.