MANHATTAN SHORT 2025…You Be the Judge!

Discover your inner film critic by casting your vote for Best Film and Best Actor in the 28th Annual MANHATTAN SHORT Film Festival. You’ll join film lovers in over 500 venues across the globe gathering to see the Ten Finalist in this year’s event. With past finalists garnering Oscar nominations and short films continuing to move into the Hollywood mainstream, come see this entertaining program featuring the best short films in the world today!

The Ten MANHATTAN SHORT Finalists hail from eight countries, with films from Spain, Israel, United Kingdom, Norway, The Netherlands, Belgium, Mexico, and the USA.

EM & SELMA GO GRIFFIN HUNTING

Directed by: Alexander Thompson
Principal Cast: Milly Shapiro. Pollyanna McIntosh
Country: USA
Running Time: 18 Minutes

Synopsis: A tale of mothers and daughters and the fantastical beasts they hunt. Love hurts.

AL FRESCO

Directed by: Ignacio Rodó
Principal Cast: Roc Esquius, Marc Pujol, Alexandra Agulló
Country: Spain
Running Time: 8 Minutes

Synopsis: Large space in a dream apartment. Unbeatable location. Ready to move in. Plenty of light..

CHASING THE PARTY

Directed by: Jessie Komitor
Principal Cast: Joe Swanberg, Lucia Ryan, Kitana Turnbull
Country: USA
Running Time: 14 Minutes

Synopsis: Seventeen-year-old suburbanites Melissa and Stephanie fantasize about becoming “IT” girls in the Lower East Side party scene circa 2007. Their dreams come crashing down when the photographer they idolize is the one to lift the veil.

PARADISE MAN

Directed by: Jordan Michael Blake
Principal Cast: Jordan Michael Blake, Derek Holguin
Country: USA
Running Time: 12 Minutes

Synopsis: Paradise Man’s obsession with golf is waylaid when his mother has an accident, causing him to look deeply within himself.

WE HAVE SINNED BEFORE YOU

Directed by: Ifat Nener Orgad
Principal Cast: Tali Sharon, Yiftach Klein, Ariel Schwartz, Amir Meyuhas, Roni Orgad
Country: Israel
Running Time: 19:18 Minutes

Synopsis: A game designed to pass the time on Yom Kippur brings up secrets and difficulties that could tear the Dagan family apart.

I HAVE MY REASONS

Directed by: Mikey Altoft
Principal Cast: Thomas Coumans, Laurence Côte, Eminé Meyrem
Country: France
Running Time: 17:00 Minutes

Synopsis: Pierre is diligently overseeing the completion of the tumultuous construction site under his responsibility, ensuring that progress doesn’t come at the cost of safety.

OVARY-ACTING

Directed by: Ida Melum
Principal Cast: Synnøve Karlsen, Sofia Oxenham
Country: Norway, UK, Sweden
Running Time: 12:24 Minutes

Synopsis: Stuck at her sister’s baby shower, Eva, a thirty-something woman, is forced to decide whether she wants to be a mother after unexpectedly giving birth to her reproductive organs, Ovy.

BEYOND SILENCE

Directed by: Marnie Blok
Principal Cast: Henrianne Jansen, Sigrid ten Napel, Tamar van den Dop
Country: The Netherlands
Running Time: 17:00 Minutes

Synopsis: Two women, two generations, one shared trauma. One has been silent for over thirty years, the other for ‘only’ a year and a half. Where one retreats further into silence after a confrontation, the other is finds the courage to break it.

ZODIAC

Directed by: Hans Buyse
Principal Cast: Titus De Voogdt, Bart Hollanders
Country: Belgium
Running Time: 14:50 Minutes

Synopsis: Two old friends on a fishing trip encounter drifting refugees in distress at sea.

PASSARINHO

Directed by: Natalia García Agraz
Principal Cast: Camila Robertson, Isabella Patrón, Naomy Romo, Anthony Mawena Kokou
Country: Mexico
Running Time: 12:00 Minutes

Synopsis: Two teenage girls try to meet their favorite soccer player but the plan is threatened when one of them gets her first period.