For the first time in its history MANHATTAN SHORT has selected ten films from ten countries with films from USA, Ireland, Australia, South Africa, United Kingdom, Moldova, Russia, Cuba, Georgia and Mexico making up MANHATTAN SHORT 2026. “Since 9/11 my vision for this Festival has been to create a filmic Olympiad. An event consisting of ten quality shorts from ten separate countries that joins the world, and finally in 2026 we’ve managed to do that. I’m very excited for the reaction it receives from our worldwide audiences”, says Nicholas Mason, founding director of MANHATTAN SHORT Film Festival.
Click HERE to view the list of films.
Start Time: 7pm
Runtime: 2 hours 28 min (including one 8-minute intermission)
Tickets:
General Admission: $15 | Big Screen Package: $25*
*Includes a complimentary glass of wine, beer or non-alcoholic beverage and a snack pack.
Purchase tickets below
Ticket holders receive a 15% discount at the Harbourfront Restaurant. Reservations required. 295-4207
SOLD OUT FOR
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26TH!!
SOLD OUT FOR
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30TH!!
Small Talk
Directed by: Eduardo Moral
Country: USA
Time: 8:40
Synopsis: In a neon-drenched future where AI has consumed nearly every profession, a weary cab driver preserves the last traces of humanity the only way he can… through small talk.
Mary Is Missing
Directed by: Aisling Byrne
Country: Ireland
Time: 22:00
Synopsis:When care worker Mary vanishes without a trace, Detective Foley arrives at the Yellow Tree Day Service, and investigations begin. As reports from the eyewitnesses become more and more confounding, we are asked to explore the reliability of truth, the strangeness of fiction, and the people we choose to believe..
Candy Bar
Directed by: Nash Edgerton
Country: Australia
Time: 6:19
Synopsis: A young girl thinks a man in the candy bar line looks like her dad.
Vultures
Directed by: Jordan Michael Blake
Country: South Africa
Time: 15:00
Synopsis: In the volatile moments after a car crash, before the authorities arrive, a hot-headed yet desperate tow truck driver fiercely protects his tow. But the situation quickly spirals out of his control.
Life Goes On
Directed by: Ifat Nener Orgad
Country: United Kingdom
Time: 19:00
Synopsis: Bill is in end-of-life care waiting for the sweet release of death – but unfortunately for him, he’s stuck in an infinite time loop, causing the day to restart the second his heart stops.
Hai Davai
Directed by: Vlad Gradescu
Country: Moldova
Time: 16:00
Synopsis: On the cusp of leaving her rural Moldovan village for a new life abroad, Nina is stopped, quite literally, by an old superstition: a black cat crosses the road. Citing bad luck, her worried grandmother refuses to let her pass.
Pickup
Directed by: Viktoriia Lapushkina
Country: Russia
Time: 3:00
Synopsis: At a pickup workshop, every girl gets a mission — flirt, charm, and win. For Di, the shyest one in the room, the task is simple: ask a guy to buy her coffee. Passing by her more confident “competitors,” she ends up on a rooftop smoking area, where she meets Alex — a man about to end his life.
Beyond Silence
Directed by: Ana. A. Alpizar
Country: Cuba
Time: 12:00
Synopsis: A girl’s long-distance romance with an older Norwegian man promises to pull her and her mother from their austere life in Cuba, but her dreams are shaken when she realizes he isn’t as idyllic as he seems.
When the Sea Was Calm
Directed by: Mamuka Tkeshelashvili
Country: Georgia
Time: 18:00
Synopsis: When the Sea Was Calm is a silent, hand-crafted Georgian animated short that transforms memories of pre-war Sokhumi into a poetic story of childhood, first love, exile, and the dream of return.
Never Give Up!
Directed by: Tamás Yvan Topolánszky
Country: Hungary, Mexico
Time: 19:58
Synopsis: Alone in the desert, a young boy attempts to cross the U.S.—Mexico border guided only by his mother’s final words: never give up. An unexpected source of hope leads him toward a twist that redefines survival.
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