Island filmgoers have the chance to pick the best of 10 international short films next weekend. This special event, sponsored by the 19th annual Manhattan Short Film Festival, will play at the Martha’s Vineyard Film Center.
Selected from all over the world, the finalists come from eight different countries. Filmmakers from 52 countries submitted a record-breaking 844 shorts. In a unique format, filmgoers from more than 250 cities in six continents will simultaneously view the final 10 shorts and vote for the winning entry.
From Norway comes “The Tunnel,” where a family returning from a vacation gets stuck in a monumental traffic jam that may end their trip for good. Based on a short story by Alice Glaser, the parents in “The Tunnel” have a secret they reluctantly need to share with their children.
The romantic Russian entry, “Bravoman,” concerns a theatrical applause booster, or claqueur (called a bravoman in the film), who is inspired by a single theater lover. The director was influenced by Woody Allen’s “Magic in the Moonlight.”
Documentary animation provides the format for Germany’s “Kaputt,” about Hoheneck, the former East German prison for women. Two interviews are central to this film, with eloquent black-and-white drawings.
The U.S. will present the comedy, “Ella Gets a Promotion?” Here the loyal employee Ella earns her long-hoped-for promotion, but it turns out to have problems. Her boss Jill has been a friend, but then their relationship changes.
The Netherlands presents “Hold On.” After a cellist breaks a string during a concert, she is overcome by stage fright. Filmmaker Charlotte Scott-Wilson based the story on her own experience with stage fright.
The next finalist is Australia’s entry, “Overtime,” where fear of the dark plagues a man who is working late. This film’s scary plot involves a werewolf.
“I Am a Pencil” is a second Australian entry. This animated short was inspired by the 2015 Charlie Hebdo killings in Paris by two Islamist terrorists. The cartoonists working at Charlie Hebdo were dedicated to freedom of expression.
“Carousel,” the entry from England, concerns an elderly man trying to advise a teenager, whose reaction is a big surprise. The story for “Carousel” came, according to director Kal Weber, “from a personal encounter and the judgmental thoughts I had and the speech I formulated in my mind.”
France brings “Gorilla” to the screen, set in 1952 Hollywood. A fan of movies like “King Kong,” and “Planet of the Apes,” director Tibo Pinsard has an actor perform in a gorilla suit. He wonders how to woo his leading lady when he’s dressed as an ape.
A second French entry is “The Last Journey of the Enigmatic Paul WR,” a sci-fi film by director Romain Quirot. Drawn from the work of Ray Bradbury and Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, it depicts an astronaut who vanishes before a space mission to save the world.
For more information and tickets, visit mvfilmsociety.com.