2025 Manhattan Short Film Fest

Back at the Circle by popular demand for 2025! Screening one week only starting Fri 9/26, don't miss your chance see an incredible selection of new short films and vote on your favorites. The total program runs 2h34min and is not rated but some shorts may contain mature themes and imagery. There is a built in intermission.

MANHATTAN SHORT is not a touring Festival; rather, it is an instantaneous celebration that occurs simultaneously across the globe, bringing great films to great venues and allowing the audiences to select their favorites.

If the Film Festival experience truly is about getting great works in front of as many eyes as possible, MANHATTAN SHORT offers the ultimate platform -- one that sees its films screened in Sydney, Mumbai, Moscow, Vienna, Cape Town to cinemas in all fifty states of the United States and beyond.

And you're the judge! The Judges of the Finalists' Films are you. Audiences at each venue will be handed a voting card upon entry to each cinema and asked to vote for the ONE film they think should win. Votes are tallied by each cinema and sent through to MANHATTAN SHORT HQ. The overall winner is announced on Monday October 6th, 2025.

This year's finalist films:

Em & Selma Go Griffin Hunting - 18min, USA, dir. Alexander Thompson

A tale of mothers and daughters and the fantastical beasts they hunt. Love hurts.

Al Fresco - 8min, Spain, dir. Ignacio Rodó

Large space in a dream apartment. Unbeatable location. Ready to move in. Plenty of light.

Chasing the Party - 14min, USA, dir. Jessie Komitor

eventeen-year-old suburbanites Melissa and Stephanie fantasize about becoming "IT" girls in the Lower East Side party scene circa 2007. Their dreams come crashing down when the photographer they idolize is the one to lift the veil.

Paradise Man - 12min, USA, dir. Jordan Michael Blake

Paradise Man's obsession with golf is waylaid when his mother has an accident, causing him to look deeply within himself.

We Have Sinned Before You - 19min, Israel, dir. Ifat Nener Orgad

A game designed to pass the time on Yom Kippur brings up secrets and difficulties that could tear the Dagan family apart.

I Have My Reasons - 15min, UK, dir. Mikey Altoft

Amanda is just 8 years old when a singular incident shapes the rest of her life.

Ovary-Acting - 12min, Norway, dir. Ida Melum

Stuck at her sister's baby shower, Eva, a thirty-something woman, is forced to decide whether she wants to be a mother after unexpectedly giving birth to her reproductive organs, Ovy.

Beyond Silence - 17min, The Netherlands, dir. Marnie Blok

Two women, two generations, one shared trauma. One has been silent for over thirty years, the other for 'only' a year and a half. Where one retreats further into silence after a confrontation, the other is finds the courage to break it.

Zodiac - 15min, Belgium, dir. Hans Buyse

Two old friends on a fishing trip encounter drifting refugees in distress at sea.

Passarinho - 12min, Mexico, dir. Natalia García Agraz

Two teenage girls try to meet their favorite soccer player but the plan is threatened when one of them gets her first period.