LBIF hosts Manhattan Short Film Festival

Photo via Cinema Salem

If you like calling the shots, then participating in the 2012 Manhattan Short Film Festival on Saturday, Sept. 29 at the Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts and Sciences in Loveladies is a must-do for you. Established in 1998, it is the first film festival to ever take place in all 50 states of the United States.

“One World One Week One Festival” is the mantra of the event. Its mission is to unite viewers from more than 250 different cities across six diverse continents during the same week, through the 10 most engaging short films submitted annually. You are the judge, and the audience gets to vote for the best-produced film. The Foundation hosted one of four of the events held in New Jersey. Viewing time will begin at 7 p.m.

This year's short film finalists include producers from Norway, the Netherlands, Russia, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Peru, France, Romania, the United States and Spain. Featured movie topics range in variety from a perilous journey to the North Pole to bad luck and relationship kindling. Each film is between 10 and 20 minutes long.

“I was here last year, and it was actually pretty cool,” said LBIF marketing and special events coordinator Lydia Owens. “There were a couple of really wild films, and there were a couple of really inspirational and very touching ones. One of them was really hilarious, and it actually won the whole film festival. So there’s a pretty good variety of films. It’s really intense, and there are a lot of really beautiful pieces that show up in the film festival. Some of them are actually true stories,” she added.

The Foundation's festival participants were given a voting card and an official program at the beginning of the event. After the viewing, everyone was asked to vote for the one film they though deserves the winning title. Individual votes were tallied and sent in to the Manhattan Short headquarters. The festival’s winner will be announced on Sunday, Oct. 7, at 10 p.m. via the Manhattan Short website.

Admission to the event costs $7. For more information, call the Foundation at 609-494-0662, or visit msfilmfest.com. 

For more information, call the Foundation at 609-494-0662, or visit msfilmfest.com. 


This article was published in The SandPaper.