If you were planning on going to the movies anyway tonight, why not go where your opinion of what’s on screen will be heard?
The 16th annual Manhattan Short film festival is back in Durango – and about 300 other cities worldwide – tonight only.
Animas City Theatre will show two screenings of the festival. Filmgoers will be handed a voting card upon entry and asked to vote for one film from among the 10 finalists. The votes tallied at ACT and from cinemas worldwide will be submitted to Manhattan Short headquarters, and the winner will be announced Oct. 6 at www.ManhattanShort.com.
Locally, Manhattan Short is a fundraiser for Durango Film, the festival held here each year in February and March.
Manhattan Short founder Nicholas Mason and his helpers chose the finalists from 628 entries submitted from 48 countries. The finalists come from the United States, Ireland, England, France, Finland and Australia. Each film is 18 minutes or shorter.
“In my 16 years of programming Manhattan Short, this is by far the strongest program I’ve ever put together,” Mason said. “This event is not going to cable TV or any form of digital download. If you don’t get down to your local cinema, you missed it.”
This year will be the first that audiences will vote for a best actor in addition to the top film. (For Manhattan Short purposes, the term is gender neutral.)
The finalists (with director and home country):
“#30” (Timothy Wilde, Australia)
“Do I Have to Take Care of Everything” (Selma Vilhunen, Finland)
“Friday” (Seb Edwards, England)
“No Comment” (Alexandra Naoum, France)
“Irish Folk Furniture” (Tony Donaghue, Ireland)
“Black Metal” (Kat Candler, USA)
“Faces From Places” (Bastien Dubois, France)
“I Am a Great Big Ball of Sadness” (Ken Urban, USA)
“Kismet Diner” (Mark Nunnely, England)
“Pale of Settlement” (Jacob Sillman, USA)
Manhattan Short has come a long way, literally and figuratively. It began in 1998 when Mason screened 16 short films onto a screen mounted to the side of a truck on Mulberry Street in Little Italy in New York City.
For year two, the festival moved uptown to Union Square Park. It’s now shown simultaneously in more than 250 theaters on six continents with audiences expected to exceed 100,000.
ted@durangoherald.com
If you go
The Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Drive, will screen the Manhattan Short film festival at 4 and 6:30 p.m. today only. Tickets cost $10 per screening. View a trailer and learn more at www.ManhattanShort.com.
