Manhattan Short 2023 runs from September 28 to October 8, billed as “the world’s first global film festival.” And I was fortunate to be a part of it last Saturday night. Apparently, I joined over 100,000 fellow film lovers in more than 500 venues around the world who were also participating in Manhattan Short’s 26th Annual Film Festival.
You would think I probably caught the show at an actual movie theater, but not so. Nantucket has exactly one movie theater, originally constructed in 1832 as a Quaker meetinghouse. Since then, the building has been dismantled, reassembled, and floated across the harbor at least twice. In 1880, it was a roller skating rink, and today The Dreamland serves as the island’s main film, theater, and cultural center.
As part of its adult programming, Manhattan Short 2023 screened at The Nantucket Atheneum, the island’s free public library. Held in the Great Hall, this event was sold out; 88 people braved wet cobblestone streets to watch 10 short film finalists from eight countries. This is what I’m talking about: sitting in the dark with a bunch of other film lovers—priceless!
And so it began. As a library staff person handed me a voting card, I took a seat in the back, near the popcorn table. Then the lights went down.
The first film of the evening was “Sunless,” an eight-minute production about two men trapped in a tiny submarine. This premiered at the 2023 Palm Springs Short Fest earlier this year, and also preceded the real-life events of the doomed Titan submersible in June. But the congitive dissonance was real; I knew I wasn’t watching a documentary, though it almost felt that way.
“Voice Activated” was a 12-minute selection from Australia, which I really liked. This is what you get when you mix a voice-activated car with a stuttering florist on deadline. If it is true that our individual ability to communicate with artificial intelligence will be a valuable skill in the workforce of the future, then this is a must-see.
Of course, you don’t need a speech impediment to appreciate how maddening modern technology can be at times. And yet, this film makes the viewer wonder if AI has any understanding of fluency disorders or neurological disabilities.
A 13-minute entry from the UK/Afghanistan, “Yellow,” was also the closest thing here to a fashion documentary, a favorite sub-genre of mine. In this case, a woman walks into a chadari store in Taliban-controlled Kabul to buy her first full-body veil. When the store clerk steps away to answer the phone, the woman twirls in the dressing room in front of the mirror. The close-up camera work as her feet leave the floor while she spins around made me think of Stevie Nicks.
Of course, Nicks is not required to adhere to a strict dress code—and no woman should be. But the Taliban is suffocating women in Afghanistan, which is visually implied here.
Another great contender is “The Stupid Boy,” a 15-minute film from the United Kingdom. This picture portrayed such a human connection against all odds, the entire audience was on the edge of their seats. The film gently asks, “What would you do if you ran into a suicide bomber ready to push the explosive button?” Suffice it to say, the film’s title is ironic.
The six other films in this festival are all engrossing in their own ways, including the animated short from Switzerland and the closing film, a Canadian creation called “Soleil du Nuit.” Every single one of these 10 films is automatically Oscar-qualified, and I hope the one I voted for moves into Academy Award contention.
Astute readers can obviously guess which one I voted for, but the actual winner will be announced on Monday, October 9 at 10 a.m. And this time next year, perhaps our beloved Triplex will be one of the 500 venues around the world hosting the Manhattan Short Film Festival.
Finally, their fourth annual short online film festival takes place February 14–24. As the promotional material points out, last year’s short fest included “An Irish Goodbye,” which later won the Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film. I will leave it to you whether “Irish goodbye” and “live action” belong in the same sentence, but there you have it.
Till the next post, get out and go to the movies!
