MANHATTAN SHORT has announced the Final Ten selections for its 25th Annual Short Film Festival, a worldwide event taking place in over 400 venues across six continents between September 22 and October 2, 2022. MANHATTAN SHORT is the only event of its kind. The Final Ten screen simultaneously across the world during a one-week period, with the Best Film and Best Actor awards determined by ballots cast by the audiences in each participating venue. By virtue of their selection by MANHATTAN SHORT, each short film is automatically Oscar-qualified.
The Final Ten MANHATTAN SHORT finalists hail from eight countries with films from Scotland, Chechia & Slovakia, Spain, Australia, Finland and Lebanon, alongside two films each from France and USA. These Final Ten Films represent the best short films from among 868 submissions from 70 countries received by MANHATTAN SHORT for 2022, testimony to the enduring vibrancy and creativity of short films worldwide.
The MANHATTAN SHORT Final Ten are:
Don vs Lightning (Scotland), Love, Dad (Chechia & Slovakia), Save the Bees (USA), The Treatment (Spain), Freefall (France), Fetish (USA), Freedom Swimmer (Australia), The Blanket (Finland), Warsha (Lebanon), The Big Green (France).
You Be the Judge!
Which of these Final Ten short films is the best? That’s up to a worldwide audience to decide. Cinema-goers across the United States and around the globe will become instant film critics as they are handed a ballot (see example below) upon entry that allows them to vote for the Best Film and Actor. MANHATTAN SHORT is the ultimate audience award that salutes the creative talents of both directors behind the camera and actors in front of it.
The MANHATTAN SHORT Finalists:
DON VS. LIGHTNING
Directed by: Big Red Button / Scotland / Time: 11:30
Don desires a quiet, rural life in the rural Scottish Highlands. Unfortunately, the Universe has more electrifying plans in store for him.
LOVE, DAD
Directed by: Diana Cam Van Nguyen / Czech Republic & Slovakia / Time: 12:46
A woman rediscovers letters her father wrote to her from prison. She then decides to write to him, putting on paper what couldn’t be said.
SAVE THE BEES
Directed by: Charlie Schwan / USA / Time: 10:50
When a gruesome accident makes a messy break up even messier, a couple decides to set aside their differences in order to save themselves.
THE TREATMENT
Directed by: Alvaro Carmona / Spain / Time: 9:00
A clinic offers bald men a full-proof way to restore hair…as long as you’re okay with one controversial but related side effect.
FREEFALL
Directed by: Emmanuel Tenenbaum / France / Time: 19:28
A London stockbroker with a bad track record makes the bet of his life when New York’s World Trade Center is attacked on 9/11. Inspired by a true story.
FETISH
Directed by: Rhian Williams / USA / Time: 13:00
An Asian American woman’s one night stand takes an unsexy turn when breakfast the morning after comes with a side of fetishism.
FREEDOM SWIMMER
Directed by: Olivia Martin McGuire / Australia & France/ Time: 15:00
A man’s perilous swim from China to Hong Kong parallels his granddaughter’s desire for freedom beyond a city once viewed as a refuge.
THE BLANKET
Directed by: Teppo Airaksinen / Finland/ Time: 14:57
Winter, 1939 Finland. A 10-year-old girl is sent to fetch milk for her baby brother. There are hazards more dangerous than thin ice.
WARSHA
Directed by: Dania Bdair / France & Lebanon/ Time: 15:12
A Beirut construction worker volunteers for the most dangerous job on the site. Away from everyone’s eyes, a secret passion takes flight.
THE BIG GREEN
Directed by: Laurenzo Massoni / France/ Time: 18:00
The owner of a logging camp suddenly finds herself stuck up a tree without a ladder and no signal on her mobile phone. The only way out is up.
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 favorites.
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.
