I attended the Manhattan Short Film Festival last night at the Grandview Theatre.   The films that were showcased were amazing.  I had only attended one other short film festival in Columbus and this festival definitely exceeded my expectations.  How this film festival works is short filmmakers from all over the world submit their film entries to be judged.  Each film is no longer than 18 minutes.  It doesn’t state on the website how these initial film entries are judged but I would assume by some panel put together by the Manhattan Short Film Festival organization.  Following this, 10 finalists are chosen.  Now it’s the public’s turn to place their votes. 

This year’s 2009 festival originally had 428 film entries from over 35 different countries.  Here are the 10 finalists that were chosen.

My pick as my favorite was Parking.  This film hailed from Spain and was directed by Jorge Molina.  I enjoyed this film simply because I could relate to it.  The synopsis is an executive, who’s seems to already be having a bad day, strolls through the parking deck to get into his car and realizes someone has decided to ‘jack’ him!  It was a very fast-paced film that kept me engaged throughout the entire time.  The film possessed a great mix of action and humor to get the point across.  It’s not that I’ve ever been carjacked.  Basically by the end of the film, the lead character realizes that he was stressing over nothing.  And I know a lot of people can relate to this.

Now let me say there wasn’t a bad film at all among these 10 finalists which is not a statement that can be easily made when viewing so many unique films with such diverse stories, plots, and perspectives.  Some of the other films I enjoyed the most were Miente and Mozambique. 

If you are a film/movie enthusiast, I highly suggest you catch 2010’s Manhattan Film Festival when it comes to a city near you.  Oh, and there’s another thing I forgot to mention…the price = $6!!  Well, at least in Columbus it was $6.  And it was worth it.  Film submissions are already being accepted for the 2010 festival.  Here’s where you can submit your information.