Manhattan Short Film Festival 2023

Description

Classification

Join us in 2023, when over 100,000 film lovers in over 500 cities across six continents gather in theatres, cinemas, museums, libraries and universities for one purpose… to view and vote on the finalists’ films in the 26th annual Manhattan Short Film Festival.

The final films represent the best short films from over 1,000 submissions from around the world, covering an extraordinary range of genres including drama, science fiction, suspense, animation and comedy. The riveting 2023 line-up is linked by a common theme: how we face adversity, whether it is imposed by others or arises from personal circumstances. The Final Ten short film selections feature narratives that are dramatic, sometimes humorous, occasionally magical and always inspirational!

Manhattan Short is not a touring Festival; rather, it is an instantaneous celebration that occurs simultaneously across the globe, bringing great films to great venues and allowing the audiences to select their favourites.

If the Film Festival experience truly is about getting great works in front of as many eyes as possible, Manhattan Short offers the ultimate platform – one that sees its films screened in Sydney, Mumbai, Moscow, Vienna, Cape Town to cinemas in all fifty states of the United States and beyond.

For the 2023 screening, our screen will be set further back on the Theatre stage, so you will be able to comfortably see the screen no matter which seats you are in. Even the front row!

By virtue of their selection by Manhattan Short, each short film is automatically Oscar-qualified.

The 2023 line up has been announced:

SUNLESS

Directed by: Boris Vesselinov
Country: Scotland
Running Time: 8:00
Synopsis: Trapped in the confines of a tiny submarine, two men disagree on how to navigate a potentially perilous issue with their vessel.

CAREER DAY

Directed by: Jason Robinson & Chris Hooper
Country: USA
Running Time: 10:00
Synopsis: A once promising 90’s pop star and his ageing boy band reunite for his daughter’s elementary school Career Day. They go viral.

VOICE ACTIVATED

Directed by: Steve Anthopoulos
Country: Australia
Running Time: 12:00
Synopsis: A florist with a stutter is forced to cooperate with a voice-activated car on the way to an important delivery.

SNAIL

Directed by: Aminreza Alimohammadi
Country: Iran
Running Time: 14:00
Synopsis: A loving mother strives to make her young son’s singing dreams come true but an audition takes a dramatic, unforeseen turn.

YELLOW

Directed by: Elham Ehsas
Country: UK/Afghanistan
Running Time: 13:00
Synopsis: In Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, a woman walks into a chadari store in Kabul to buy her first full-body veil and face an uncertain future.

THE RECORD

Directed by: Jonathan Laskar
Country: Switzerland
Running Time: 8:38
Synopsis: An antique musical instrument dealer obsessively plays a magical vinyl record that “reads your mind and plays your lost memories.” Even the forgotten ones.

TUULIKKI

Directed by: Teemu Nikki
Country: Finland
Running Time: 14:00
Synopsis: When a young woman dominated by an over-protective mother plots her escape, their relationship dissolves into one of mutual suspicion.

THE STUPID BOY

Directed by: Phil Dunn
Country: UK
Running Time: 15:00
Synopsis: In London, a broken man groomed for a terrorist attack confronts a local lad who sees things differently. That can be dangerous.

THE FAMILY CIRCUS

Directed by: Andrew Fitzgerald
Country: USA
Running Time: 17:00
Synopsis: A Vietnamese-American family’s plan to cover up a drunk-driving incident begins to unravel when their emotional baggage spills out in front of the police.

SOLIEL DU NUIT

Directed by: Fernando López Escrivá, Maria Camila Arias
Country: Canada
Running Time: 13:00
Synopsis: While training for a moon landing, a group of Canadian astronauts are tasked with an added mission by a Native American elder.