About the festival
The Festival, now in its 11th year, will be held from the 21st to the 28th of September across Europe, Australia and North, Central and South American. There will be 295 screenings with audiences topping 50,000 people during the week. Each venue will be showing 12 short films for a total performance time of 2 hours. Space 360 will be hosting the films on Sunday, September 21st at 2:00 PM and 5:00 PM and again on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, September 25th, 26th and 27th at 2:00 PM 5:00 PM and 7:00 PM.
At the end of each viewing the audience will vote on their favorite films. Then at the end of the festival on September 28, there will be a final showing in Union Square Park in New York City where all the votes from all the venues will be tallied and the winners will be announced. This year, the Manhattan Short Film Festival selected the twelve finalists from 429 entries from all around the world. The short films, each approximately 10 minutes in length, have been directed and produced by a variety of talented film-makers eager to compete for the best film award and to get exposure in front of such a diverse, massive audience in one week with measurable feedback.
The successful short films have typically gone on to win awards elsewhere. In 2007 two films received significant acclaim. I Met the Walrus, an animated film around a tape recording of John Lennon taken by a 13 year boy, won best animated film at the Festival and went on to be nominated for an Oscar. A British Film called Soft about a father’s lack of courage in protecting his son received a BAFTA nomination. Both of these films were entered in the Sundance Festival last year as well.
