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Manhattan Short Film Festival visits Phoenix Art Museum

(Photo Courtesy of Manhattan Short FIlm Festival)
(Photo Courtesy of Manhattan Short FIlm Festival)

(Photo Courtesy of Manhattan Short FIlm Festival) (Photo Courtesy of Manhattan Short FIlm Festival)

For one week each year, the Manhattan Short Film Festival spreads across the globe to show audiences contending short films.

The Manhattan Short Film Festival, held this year between Sept. 26 and Oct. 5, will screen the 10 competing films to over 100,000 people in more than 200 cities on six continents — including those attending tonight at the Phoenix Art Museum. The festival is not a touring one; instead, it is a recognition of outstanding short films shown across the world simultaneously with the goal of naming one of the finalist’s films the winner, which will be announced on Oct. 6.

Making the festival unique is the fact that audiences viewing the films get to act as the judges, allowing for their voices to be heard. Each audience member is handed a voting ballot at the beginning of the showcase and is asked to vote on the film that they feel is the best. Votes are then sent to the Manhattan Short Film Festival headquarters and tallied before the winner is announced. Winning has proven to be a prestigious honor in the past few years, with two of the previous three festival winners going on to win the Academy Award for best short film.

The festival gives away four awards at the end of the week of screenings, three which are awarded for the number of votes and one for the best screenplay. The Bronze Award is given to the film that receives the third-most number of votes, and the Silver Award is given to the film that receives the second highest number of votes, respectively. The biggest prize is the Gold Award, given to the film that receives the most votes from all of the venues screening the short films.

Unlike the other three awards, the best screenplay is not voted on by audiences; rather, it is an industry judged award. That is not to say that only professional screenwriters can submit. In fact, it is quite the opposite. The festival encourages everyone to give writing a chance and try his or her hand at creating an outstanding short story.

Nicholas Mason founded the festival in 1998 when he attached a projector to the side of a truck and screened short films to a small audience on Mulberry Street in New York City. The following year, the festival was moved to Union Square Park and had a panel of celebrities (including Tim Robbins) judge the films. The festival went international in 2006, and with its addition of Africa in 2010, became the world’s first Global film Festival.

This year, the festival saw over 580 filmmakers from more than 45 countries enter their short films. The final selection of films came from all over the globe, with two coming from the U.S. and two coming from England, as well as films from the Netherlands, Australia, France, Mexico, Germany and Norway. Each film is required to be under 18 minutes long, with all genres, including animation, being accepted.

The festival comes to the Phoenix Art Museum as one of the many film events the museum is currently hosting. Their next series, an examination of Western films, begins on Nov. 9 with a screening of "Johnny Guitar." Other series include a retrospective on the films of Chilean-French filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky, culminating with a presentation of his newest film “The Dance of Reality” on Oct. 19. A full schedule of their events can be found on their website at www.phxart.org.

 

Reach the reporter at seweinst@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @S_Weinstein95

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