The annual Manhattan Short Film Festival has only one con - it is short. This year the screenings were on for a week and ended on Oct. 5. The Kyiv Post offers a pick of five best short films from this year's program for those who want to quickly catch up with the festival.
‘Rhino Full Throttle’
This year winner Erik Schmitt conquered audience with his unusual technique: he combined live filming with animation. “Rhino Full Throttle” amuses with a
lovely romantic story of a man and a woman who both see Berlin the way that no
one else does. The film was nominated as the best short film
at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2013.
‘Mend and Make Do’
“Mend and Make Do” by director Bexie Bush took the second
place. It is an elegant animated story told by an elderly woman, who reminisces her life before and after World War II. On behalf of the old lady the
author tells about love, family and everyday life of women in 1940s in an
amusing manner.
‘The Bravest the Boldest’
“The Bravest the Boldest” won the bronze and the best actor award. Both funny
and tragic, it tells a story of two militants of the U.S. army who must inform a
woman that her son was killed in the Middle East. The woman meets them in an elevator on her way home and tries to escape from the terrible
news. Director Moon Molson shows tragedy that is not pathetic.
‘La Carnada’
While producing “La Carnada” (“Lure”) Josh Soskin and his crew went through the Way of the Devil, the deadly dangerous part of the desert on the border of Arizona
and Mexico, and filmed a real entrepot of smugglers in the Sonoran Desert. The film tells a story of a boy who tried to cross the border into the U.S.,
but the route turned out to be more complicated than expected. Surprising
finale, documentary vision of social problems and honesty of the
teenager make the film one of the greatest contestants of the festival.
‘On/Off’
Thierry Lorenzi’s drama “On/Off” is a winner of several international film festivals. The action is set up in
the open space where the main heroine faces her psychological problems. The
director shows how technology progress turns people into machines – literally. The visual effects were made by the Canadian company Rodeo FX that made the effects for the hits like “Pacific Rim” and “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.”
