The 26th Annual Manhattan Short Film Festival is a worldwide event taking place in over 500 venues across six continents between September 28 and October 8, 2023. MANHATTAN SHORT is the only event of its kind. The Ten Finalists will screen simultaneously across the world during a one-week period, with the Best Film and Best Actor awards determined by ballots cast by audiences in each participating venue. By virtue of their selection by MANHATTAN SHORT, each short film is automatically Oscar-qualified.)

The Final Ten are:
Sunless (USA), Voice Activated (Australia), Yellow (Afghanistan), Tuulikki (Finland), The Family Circus (USA), Career Day (USA), Snail (Iran), The Record (Switzerland), The Stupid Boy (UK), Soleil De Nuit (Canada).

Director:  Michael A. Goorjian
Writer:  Michael A. Goorjian
Starring: Michael A. Goorjian, Hovik Keuchkerian, & Nelli Uvarova

Charlie escapes the Armenian genocide as a boy by fleeing to the United States, but he returns as an adult and is arrested. He watches an Armenian couple from his prison cell, finally learning about his homeland.

Director:  Jonathan Demme
Writer:  Jonathan Demme, The Talking Heads
Starring: David Byrne, Bernie Worrell, & Alex Weir

Director Jonathan Demme captures the frantic energy and artsy groove of Talking Heads in this concert movie shot at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre in 1983. The band’s frontman, David Byrne, first appears on an empty stage, armed with only an acoustic guitar, and is gradually joined by bassist Tina Weymouth, drummer Chris Frantz, keyboardist Jerry Harrison and a cadre of backup singers as they perform the band’s hits, culminating in an iconic performance featuring Byrne in an enormous suit.

Director:  Kitty Green
Writer:  Kitty Green & Oscar Redding
Starring: Julia Garner, Jessica Henwick, & Herbert Nordrum

Americans Hanna and Liv are best friends backpacking in Australia. After they run out of money, Liv, looking for an adventure, convinces Hanna to take a temporary live-in job behind the bar of a pub called ‘The Royal Hotel’ in a remote Outback mining town. Bar owner Billy and a host of locals give the girls a riotous introduction to Down Under drinking culture but soon Hanna and Liv find themselves trapped in an unnerving situation that grows rapidly out of their control.

Director:  Justine Triet
Writer:  Justine Triet
Starring:  Sandra Hüller, Swann Arlaud, & Milo Machado Graner

For the past year, Sandra, her husband Samuel, and their eleven-year-old son Daniel have lived a secluded life in a remote town in the French Alps. When Samuel is found dead in the snow below their chalet, the police question whether he was murdered or committed suicide. Samuel’s suspicious death is presumed murder, and Sandra becomes the main suspect. What follows is not just an investigation into the circumstances of Samuel’s death but an unsettling psychological journey into the depths of Sandra and Samuel’s conflicted relationship.