Film lovers in Benton Harbor will join over 100,000 film enthusiasts and 500 venues worldwide to view, and judge, short film works from the next generation of international filmmakers for the 25th Annual MANHATTAN SHORT Film Festival this Saturday, October 1, 2022 at 7:30 pm at The Ghostlight Theatre.
MANHATTAN SHORT is the ultimate audience award event that salutes the creative talents of both directors behind the camera and the actors in front of it. A worldwide audience will watch the films and decide who the winners are. Cinemagoers in Benton Harbor, across the United States and around the globe will be handed a ballot upon entry that allows them to vote for the Best Film and Best Actor. The festival organizers help all 10 short films meet the Oscar qualifying criteria of screening for a full week at a cinema in the county of Los Angeles, as well as helping them gain the attention and support they need from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, making each film showing a strong contender for a 2023 Oscar nomination.
The festival began in 1998 when organizers attached a screen to the side of a truck on Mulberry Street in New York and projected 16 short films to an audience of about 300 New Yorkers scattered in the street. The annual event moved in 1999 to Union Square Park in NYC, with the finalists’ films being judged by a panel of celebrities including Susan Sarandon, Eric Stoltz, Laura Linney, Roger Corman and Tim Robbins. Then on September 23rd, 2001, just 12 days after 9/11, organizers considered cancelling the festival but were encouraged by NYC officials to keep their plan of holding the event. The city felt this would be a way to bring people together and show something positive in Union Square Park, which had become a shrine and a place where people gathered to grieve the loss of loved ones after the attack on the World Trade Center.
With the park being surrounded by news trucks covering New York City and Ground Zero to the rest of the world, the festival received international attention. After that organizers organically grew the event to venues all over the world as a way to bring people together and highlight groundbreaking short films, that portrayed the reality of life, in a way that other mediums did not. Today over 350 cities across 6 continents take part in MANHATTAN SHORT during one week of the year.
The Final Ten MANHATTAN SHORT finalists hail from eight countries with films from Scotland, Czech & Slovakia, Spain, Australia, Finland and Lebanon, alongside two films each from France and USA. The final ten films represent the best short films from among 870 submissions from 70 countries received by MANHATTAN SHORT for 2022, which organizers say is testimony to the enduring vibrancy and creativity of short films worldwide.
The 10 short films presented by MANHATTAN SHORT this year have one common theme, how people deal with adversity in its various forms. The final 10 films are Don vs Lightning (Scotland), Love, Dad (Czech & Slovakia),Save the Bees (USA),The Treatment (Spain), Freefall (France), Fetish (USA), Freedom Swimmer(Australia), The Blanket (Finland) Warsha (Lebanon) The Big Green (France).
To join fellow film lovers at the GhostLight and vote for your favorite, visit this link to get your tickets. The cost is $15 per person at the door, use the promo code MS2022 for $5 off if you buy your ticket in advance. There will be a cash bar on-site that evening. To learn more about the films, and the filmmakers behind the top ten entries visit https://www.manhattanshort.com/finalists.html.
By Julee Laurent
MOTM Contributor
