Film lovers in Durango will join over 100,000 film enthusiasts around the world from September 24 – October 31 when the 23rd Annual MANHATTAN SHORT Film Festival screens at the Durango Stadium 9 Theatre September 25 – October 1, and the Butch Cassidy Train Car inside the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Museum for four small, intimate screenings in October.
For Durango screening dates and times, please visit durangofilm.org.
Introducing the MANHATTAN SHORT Finalists of 2020
This year, MANHATTAN SHORT received 971 entries from 54 countries and selected nine finalists. The final nine MANHATTAN SHORT selections hail from nine countries, with films from Australia, Finland, France, Iran, Israel, North Macedonia, Russia, the State of Palestine, and USA. The final nine screen simultaneously across the world during a one-month period, with the Best Film and Best Actor awards determined by ballots cast by the audiences in each participating venue.
The MANHATTAN SHORT final nine are (in order of appearance):
Safe Space (Australia), The Stick (Finland), Exam (Iran), Hey,Gray (Russia), White Eye (Israel), Sticker (North Macedonia), Two Little Boys (USA), Maestro (France), The Present (State of Palestine).
This year’s selections use drama, comedy and animation to address an astonishing number of themes, ranging from identity to parenthood to the seemingly universal frustration caused by the Department of Motor Vehicles… no matter the country. The directorial voices are both male and female from countries large and small, often inspired by personal, and sometimes harrowing, experience.
This year’s screening also is a rare instance when gripping dramas from Iran, Israel, and the State of Palestine are featured in the same program.
Due to COVID 19, MANHATTAN SHORT is extending the screening dates through the whole month of October rather than its usual seven-to-ten day period. None of the screenings will be shown “virtually” so as to support local cinemas in a time of crisis.
“The films I remember best are those I saw in a cinema. Streaming the Manhattan Short Film Festival was never an option. While the number of participating cinemas is sure to be down, you have to stay true to what you do. MANHATTAN SHORT is a cinematic experience.”
— Founding Director Nicholas Mason
You Be the Judge!
Which of these final 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. MANHATTAN SHORT 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 MANHATTAN SHORT HQ with the winner announced at ManhattanShort.com on Sunday November 1.
You can view a complete list of venues worldwide hosting MANHATTAN SHORT, here.
Durango Film has been bringing the MANHATTAN SHORT Film Festival to the Four Corners for more than a decade.The Durango Independent Film Festival was recently voted in the Top 100 Best Reviewed Film Festivals [out of over 9,000 festivals] around the world on FilmFreeway.com. Filmmakers LOVE coming to Durango and our local Festival. The next Festival is scheduled for March 3 – 7, 2021 and plans to be a hybrid festival with virtual and in-theatre screenings.