Filmgoers in Sedona will unite with audiences in over 400 venues spanning six continents to view and judge the work of the next generation of filmmakers from around the world when the 22nd annual Manhattan Short Film Festival screens at the Mary D. Fisher Theatre, Friday through Thursday, Sept. 27 through Oct. 3, hosted by the Sedona International Film Festival.
The Manhattan Short Film Festival is the only event of its kind. The 10 finalists are screened 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 cinema. By virtue of their selection by Manhattan Short, each short film is automatically Oscar-qualified.
The final 10 Manhattan Short Film Festival finalists hail from seven countries with films from France, Iran, Canada, Germany and Finland alongside two films from USA and a record three from the United Kingdom. These final 10 films represent the best short films among 1,250 submissions from 70 countries received by Manhattan Short for 2019, testimony to the enduring vibrancy and creativity of short films worldwide.
The festival continues to be a premier showcase for female directors with five of the final 10 films directed by women, including one from Iran. This year’s final 10 represent an extraordinary range of film genres that includes intimate dramas, spine-tingling suspense, and hilarious comedies, as well as genre surprises like a pair of science fiction films and one that focuses on tennis.
The Manhattan Short Film Festival final 10 are:
- “Nefta Football Club”: In Tunisia, two football-loving young brothers find a donkey lost in the middle of the desert on the border with Algeria. But why is the animal wearing headphones over its ears?
- “Debris”: Following a disastrous accident on his construction site, Armando rushes to save an injured worker but then stumbles into a grim world of human labor trafficking.
- “Driving Lessons”: Iranian laws say Bahareh’s husband must accompany her to driving lessons so she and her instructor will not be alone, a task made more complicated when the two men don’t get along.
- “Tipped”: A talented but under-appreciated waitress at an upscale Candian restaurant reaches her tipping point with a table of difficult customers and concocts a special dish of revenge.
- “Sylvia”: Our love affair with the automobile means that a car can feel like it is part of the family. But on one last road trip, a British woman relives the moments that give this car special significance.
- “The Match”: Two middle-aged Finnish women turn a friendly game of tennis into an intense competition but stand united at the end of the match when they discover one thing in common.
- “This Time Away”: An elderly British man lives as a recluse, haunted by his past and memory of the family he once had, until a non-human visitor arrives and disrupts his isolation.
- “Malou”: Rejected by a famed German dance school, Malou gets a chance to prove that she’s destined for a career as a dancer despite the odds seemingly stacked against her.
- “A Family Affair”: When Briton Annabelle wakes up alone in a stranger’s bedroom on her 30th birthday, she thinks the day cannot get any worse. But then Bernard walks in and he is not the man of her dreams.
- “At the End of the World”: In an apocalyptic future, a lonely government worker finds solace with a soldier during the last world war. But their future together is threatened when the soldier is sent back into battle.
You be the judge. Which of these nine 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 upon entry that allows them to vote for the Best Film and Best Actor. The Manhattan Short Film Festival is the ultimate audience award that salutes the creative talents of both directors behind the camera and actors in front of it. Votes will be sent through to festival headquarters with the winner announced at ManhattanShort.com on Monday, Oct. 7, at 10 a.m.
The Manhattan Short Film Festival will be shown at the Mary D. Fisher Theatre Sept. 27 through Oct. 3. Showtimes will be: 7 p.m. on Friday and Sunday, Sept. 27 and 29; and 4 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, Sept. 30, Oct. 1 and 3.
Tickets are $12, or $9 for Film Festival members. Call 282-1177 for tickets and more information. Both the theatre and film festival office are located at 2030 W. SR 89A in West Sedona.
Visit SedonaFilmFestival.org for more information and to order tickets online.
