Manhattan Short Film Festival to screen at Whittenberger

The Union Board film this weekend will not be the latest Hollywood blockbuster.

Instead, Union Board has organized a Bloomington screening of the 15th annual Manhattan Short Film Festival at the Whittenberger Auditorium in the Indiana Memorial Union.

The film festival screens from Sept. 28 to Oct. 7 in 300 cities across six continents.

Students and community members can attend screenings at 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday or Saturday in the IMU. Admission is free for students and $2 for the general public.

Manhattan Short founder and director Nicholas Mason said he selects shorts he thinks will appeal to different demographics.

About 520 entries were submitted from 49 countries, but only 10 finalists were selected.

Mason said he wants the festival to be similar to the Olympics, where people from all around the world compete and learn about other cultures.

“Our goal is to unite the world,” Mason said. “We might take two from one country, but no more than two. Every film must be somehow different from each other.”

Finalist selections range in style and experience. Films vary from film school projects to Sundance Film Festival winners.

Graham Davis, Union Board director of films, said Mason contacted him about screening the festival when Davis became director in 2011.

“I was drawn to it because it’s an international film festival,” Davis said. “It’s taking place in every continent except Antarctica.”

Mason, originally an actor from Australia, began the festival in 1998 when he projected 16 short films against a screen attached to a truck in New York City.

The festival was held in Union Square Park in New York the following year. Celebrities such as Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins judged the films.

While the festival typically starts in mid-September, Mason said he originally planned to postpone 2001’s festival after the attacks on Sept. 11.

Mason decided to proceed with the festival as planned, and said he believes the attention on the city made the festival more successful.

“All of the city started gravitating into Union Square Park and staying there together,” Mason said. “The press around the park did stories of their own filmmakers back for their own country. The following year, everyone started sending their films to this festival.”

Mason said he received more than 500 submissions for the festival in 2002, and despite the volume of entries, the good ones stand out.

He also said Manhattan Short sends DVDs to venues who will screen the films.

Each attendee will be given a ballot to cast his or her vote, which will then be sent back to Mason and his team to be counted.

“In one week, the entire world is voting for these films,” Davis said. “The audience votes while they’re watching the films.”

Both Mason and Davis said they think part of the appeal is the worldwide participation and voting process.

Mason said he finds film festivals boring when all the submissions are from one country.

He said he can recognize the films with which people from different places can identify.

“Can’t we just all have a look at what the filmmakers are saying?” Mason said. “It’s a celebration. It’s something else.”

The 10 Finalists

The Devil’s Ballroom
Director: Henrik Dahlsbrakken
Country: Norway
Run time: 15 minutes, 30 seconds
Synopsis: “On a perilous journey to the North Pole, an Arctic explorer makes a critical decision with lifelong consequences.”

A Curious Conjunction of Coincidences
Joost Reijmers
Netherlands
8 minutes, 54 seconds
“Bad luck connects three men together even though they live in different centuries.”

Where The Sea Flows
Vitaly Saltykov
Russia
14 minutes
“A mother comes to grips with a precocious young daughter and the violent circumstances of her birth.”

Two & Two
Babak Anvari
United Kingdom
8 minutes, 25 seconds
“In a school run by an authoritarian regime, a seemingly ridiculous decree becomes a syllabus for terror.”

Cluck
Michael Lavelle
Ireland
18 minutes, 57 seconds
“Feathers are ruffled at the orphanage when a new arrival threatens to upset the pecking order.”

Behind the Mirrors
Julio Ramos
Peru
12 minutes, 10 seconds
“When one of the night’s customers at a disreputable motel leaves an unexpected mess, the young manager sees an opportunity that may change his family’s fortunes forever.”

The Elaborate End of Robert Ebb
Clement Bolla, FX Goby and Matthieu Landour
France
12 minutes, 50 seconds
“A monster terrorizes a town and induces collective hysteria with hilarious results.”

Superman, Spiderman or Batman
Tudor Giurgiu
Romania
11 minutes
“Inspired by his favorite comic book heroes, a young boy tries to save the day.”

92 Skybox Alonzo Mourning Rookie Card
Todd Sklar
United States
12 minutes
“Brothers Jim and Dave sort out their differences in extreme fashion when their father dies.”

Voice Over
Martin Rosete
Spain
9 minutes, 50 seconds
“A series of life-threatening experiences pale in comparison to a situation that requires real courage.”