Manhattan Short Film Festival 2025
Run Time: 154 min. Rating: NR Release Year: 2025
Manhattan Short Film Festival 2025
Every autumn, the Manhattan Short Film Festival unites audiences in over 500 cities across six continents to screen the festival’s ten Global Finalists. You—not a jury—decide who wins: each audience member votes for the Best Film and Best Actor. Every film selected is automatically Oscar-qualified by virtue of this global run. Join us for an evening of discovery, participation, and storytelling from around the world.
This Year’s Final Ten
A diverse slate of shorts from eight countries explores themes ranging from grief and identity to fantasy and youth culture:
Em & Selma Go Griffin Hunting (USA, 18 min)
A surreal tale of mothers and daughters, fantastical beasts, and the complex wounds of love.
Al Fresco (Spain, 8 min)
Bright light, a dream apartment, and an eerie emptiness suggest more than meets the eye.
Chasing the Party (USA, 14 min)
Two suburban teens chase “IT”-girl status in 2007’s party scene, only to find the dream unravelled by the idol they admire.
Paradise Man (USA, 12 min)
A golf-obsessed man’s life is upturned after an accident puts his world—on the green and beyond—in perspective.
We Have Sinned Before You (Israel, 19 min)
A seemingly innocent Yom Kippur game exposes buried secrets that threaten to unravel a family.
I Have My Reasons (UK, 15 min)
A haunting moment from childhood echoes through a life—an 8-year-old moment that defines everything that follows.
Ovary-Acting (Norway/UK/Sweden, 12 min)
At a baby shower, a woman unexpectedly must confront her feelings about motherhood in the hilarious and surreal figure of Ovy—her reproductive organs.
Beyond Silence (Netherlands, 17 min)
Two generations ripple against shared trauma and silence—one retreats, the other finds the courage to speak.
Zodiac (Belgium, 15 min)
On a fishing trip, two old friends encounter refugees in peril—forcing a confrontation between comfort and conscience.
Passarinho (Mexico, 12 min)
Two girls dream of meeting their soccer hero; but first, one has to navigate her first period and the vulnerability it brings.
Join the Event
The entire 2½-hour program (including intermission) offers a powerful snapshot of global storytelling in miniature, followed by your vote—which helps determine the 2026 Oscar contenders.
About the festival:
Manhattan Short began in 1998, when founder Nicholas Mason gathered an audience of 200 people and showed 16 short films on a screen mounted to the side of a truck on Mulberry Street, Little Italy, New York City. A year later the Festival moved uptown to Union Square Park NYC, where audiences grew to love the annual event. From these humble beginnings, the festival has now transformed into a worldwide phenomenon.
Celebrating its 28th birthday in 2025, Manhattan Short is the only film festival on the planet to unfold simultaneously, in more than 500 cinemas on six continents, bringing over 100,000 film-lovers in all corners of the globe together for one week, via the next generation of filmmakers. Click here to read how it all began.
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