Manhattan Short Film Festival 2025 Comes to Garde Arts Oct. 5

Garde Arts Center is proud to announce that Manhattan Short Film Festival will return to the Garde Giant Screen at 325 State Street in New London on Sunday, October 5, 2025 at 3:00 p.m, sponsored by Liberty Bank. Tickets are $15 plus fees, and are available at https://gardearts.org/events/manhattan-short-film-festival-2025/.

The 28th Annual MANHATTAN SHORT Film Festival. ONE WORLD – ONE WEEK – ONE FESTIVAL. Join us, when over 100,000 film lovers in over 500 cities across six continents gather for one reason…to view and vote on the Finalists’ Films in the 28th Annual MANHATTAN SHORT Film Festival.

Upon entry at all participating venues, festival attendees are handed a Voting Card and an Official Program and asked to vote for the ONE Film and Actor they feel should win. Votes are tallied by each host venue then emailed to our NYC headquarters.

Finalists will become eligible to enter the Oscars 2026.
Every Film Selected for MANHATTAN SHORT 2025 will be Automatically Qualified for the Oscars of 2026. MANHATTAN SHORT does a full week’s run at a cinema in Hollywood which is advertised in the LA Weekly. This advertised run automatically qualifies each film for the Oscars.

2025 FINALISTS:

Em & Selma Go Griffin Hunting
Directed by: Alexander Thompson
Principal Cast: Milly Shapiro. Pollyanna McIntosh
Country: USA
Running Time: 18:00
Synopsis: A tale of mothers and daughters and the fantastical beasts they hunt. Love hurts.

Al Fresco
Directed by: Ignacio Rodó
Principal Cast: Roc Esquius, Marc Pujol, Alexandra Agulló
Country: Spain
Running Time: 8:00
Synopsis: Large space in a dream apartment. Unbeatable location. Ready to move in. Plenty of light.

Chasing the Party
Directed by: Jessie Komitor
Principal Cast: Joe Swanberg, Lucia Ryan, Kitana Turnbull
Country: USA
Running Time: 14:00
Synopsis: Seventeen-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
Directed by: Jordan Michael Blake
Animators: Jordan Michael Blake, Derek Holguin
Country: USA
Running Time: 12:00
Synopsis: 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
Directed by: Ifat Nener Orgad
Principal Cast: Tali Sharon, Yiftach Klein, Ariel Schwartz, Amir Meyuhas, Roni Orgad
Country: Israel
Running Time: 19:18
Synopsis: 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
Directed by: Mikey Altoft
Principal Cast: Lisa Jones, Matt Sproit, Patsy Rumball, Adam Young
Country: United Kingdom
Running Time: 15:00
Synopsis: Amanda is just 8 years old when a singular incident shapes the rest of her life.

Ovary-Acting
Directed by: Ida Melum
Principal Cast: Synnøve Karlsen and Sofia Oxenham
Country: Norway, UK, Sweden
Running Time: 12:24
Synopsis: 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
Directed by: Marnie Blok
Principal Cast: Henrianne Jansen, Sigrid ten Napel, Tamar van den Dop
Country: The Netherlands
Running Time: 17:00
Synopsis: 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
Directed by: Hans Buyse
Principal Cast: Titus De Voogdt, Bart Hollanders
Country: Belgium
Running Time: 14:50
Synopsis: Two old friends on a fishing trip encounter drifting refugees in distress at sea.

Passarinho
Directed by: Natalia García Agraz
Principal Cast: Camila Robertson, Isabella Patrón, Naomy Romo, Anthony Mawena Kokou
Country: Mexico
Running Time: 12:00
Synopsis: Two teenage girls try to meet their favorite soccer player but the plan is threatened when one of them gets her first period.