Gear up your inner critic. It’s time again for the 29th annual Manhattan Short Film Festival. Starting on Sept. 24, join audience members in more than 500 venues worldwide to vote for the Best Film and Best Actor awards among the 10 finalists that screened simultaneously over one week. The winners will be announced at manhattanshort.com on Monday, Oct 5, at 10 am.
The U.S. entry, “Small Talk,” directed by Eduardo Moral, explores loneliness and alienation in a decaying city. In an eerie, neon-drenched future where AI has consumed nearly every profession, a seemingly compassionate taxi driver picks up human passengers, whom AI has replaced in their jobs. As they enter his cab, each passenger — a mechanic, a teacher, and a doctor — tells him how much they appreciate the small talk. “It’s what makes us human, after all,” he says, leaving us to wonder whether this is actually true.
The psychological thriller “Mary Is Missing,” from Ireland, is directed by Aisling Byrne. It opens with the words on screen: “Based on a true story.” In the next second, the word “true” disappears. In fact, the disappearance is of Mary, a care worker at the Yellow Tree Day Service for adults with intellectual disabilities. The cast is an ensemble of actors from the company Run of the Mill, an Irish arts organization that provides a platform for the talents of people with intellectual disabilities. The cast devised the film’s narrative. In “Mary Is Missing,” each actor tells a piece of the story — some true, some not — to the irritated facility director and the detective, who try to get to the bottom of the mystery. Byrne says, “I hope audiences leave feeling that cinema is richer when we invite new voices into the creative process. Every twist of the cover story, every emotional beat, is shaped by the imagination, humor, and instincts of 13 artists whose perspectives are still rarely represented in mainstream filmmaking.”
In the Australian short “Candy Bar,” by Nash Edgerton, a young girl tells a man in the movie theater’s candy bar line that he looks like her dad. Initially touched by the exchange, he comes to learn that not everything a young, innocent child says may be true.
The South African entry, “Vultures,” by Dian Weys, is a suspense thriller based on his own experience in a car accident and its aftermath. The film unfolds in the volatile moments after a car crash, before the authorities arrive. In this case, the vulture is a hotheaded yet desperate tow-truck driver who fiercely protects his tow from a competitor at the scene. The situation quickly spirals out of control, raising emotional and moral questions about right and wrong. Weys says, “I spoke to many tow-truck drivers, and they have to navigate a ruthless and competitive industry. They are also the ones who secure scenes and put themselves at risk when helping victims. I therefore hope that the characters’ actions challenge the title, and that it becomes a question for the audience.”
The dark comedy “Life Goes On,” from the U.K., is directed by Daniel Audritt and Kat Butterfield, the latter of whom says, “It’s about finding hope in unexpected places and the preciousness of time.” Bill, a curmudgeonly, acerbic patient, is in end-of-life care, waiting for the sweet release of death, but unfortunately for him, he’s stuck in an infinite time loop. The unexpected repetition gives Bill an extension as time runs out, leaving him options to make different choices while he’s still living.
“Hai Davai,” from Moldova, is directed by Vlad Gradescu. Before the story begins, we learn that 40 percent of the population of Moldova has left in search of opportunities since it gained independence in 1991. In the film, Nina, on the cusp of leaving her village for a new life abroad, is stopped, quite literally, by an old superstition about a black cat crossing the road. Citing bad luck, her worried grandmother refuses to let her pass. Instead, they sit and wait for someone else to cross the road first. Slowly, a collection of potential walkers gathers, each refusing to cross the path, creating a humorous folk tale. Colloquially, “hai davai” can mean many things, such as “let’s go,” “hurry up,” and “goodbye.” Gradescu says, “For this film, it carries a double meaning. On the surface, it’s Nina’s urgency to leave, to finally go. But underneath, it’s also an invitation to the audience to experience something purely Moldovan, and see just how much they can relate to it.”
The comedy “Pickup” is the Russian entry, from Viktoriia Lapushkina. We meet Di, the shyest woman in the room, at a pickup workshop where every girl gets a mission — flirt, charm, and win to make a man go crazy over her. Di’s task is simple: Ask a guy to buy her coffee. Passing by her more confident competitors, she ends up on a rooftop smoking area, where she meets Alex — a man about to end his life, or so it seems.
Ana Alpizar directs the Cuban entry, “Norheimsund,” about a girl’s long-distance romance with an older Norwegian man that promises to pull her and her mother out of their austere life in Cuba. But her dreams are shaken when she realizes he isn’t as idyllic as he seems. Alpizar says, “Since I was a child, I grew up hearing stories about older European men who, essentially, bought young Cuban brides with the promise of a better life. These women were the Cinderellas of post–Soviet Cuba, seen as heroines not only because they had managed to leave the island, but also because they could potentially become providers for their families from abroad. Unfortunately, those stories aren’t just distant memories, and many of those dynamics are even more present today.”
“When the Sea Was Calm,” a film from Georgia about a boy, a girl, and a little dog, is directed by Mamuka Tkeshelashvili. The silent, poignant, handcrafted animated short transforms memories of prewar Sokhumi into a transportive story of childhood, first love, painful exile, and the dream of return. For Tkeshelashvili and producer Vladimer Katcharava, the film is a way to remember and honor the people forced to leave their homes, who still live with the hope of returning one day. It is also for those who died without ever having that chance.
The Mexican entry, “Never Give Up,” by Tamás Yvan Topolánszky, follows a young boy, alone in the desert, as he attempts to cross the U.S.-Mexico border, guided only by his mother’s final words: Never give up. In an ironic twist, an unexpected source of hope leads him toward a resolution that redefines survival. Topolánszky explains the film’s inspiration: “I looked for the smallest possible point of view — a child who knows nothing about the enormous political argument surrounding him. He doesn’t understand borders, ideology, or immigration policy. He only understands that he is alone, that he has to keep moving, and that his mother’s words may be the only thing guiding him forward.”
The 10 entries are vastly different from one another, each offering a unique cinematic experience that will intrigue you, no matter which one you ultimately select as your favorite.
The Manhattan Short Film Festival screens at the M.V. Film Center on Thursday, Sept. 24. For tickets and information, visit mvfilmsociety.com.
