The Manhattan Short Film Festival, the first global film festival, began modestly in 1998, with a 300-person turn out in New York City and only a projector facing the side of a large van.
Since then, it has garnered more attention with celebrity judges as well as publicity for being one of the first festivals to appear in New York after the tragedy of 9/11.
Its founder, Nicholas Mason, has reconsidered how he wanted to design his festival, deciding to take the singular, localized event that is the film festival, and open it up to the whole world.
And just recently, the Manhattan Short Film Festival came to the Amherst Cinema Arts Center.
Local residents will get a chance to watch 10 different short films. The 10 films will run in Amherst through Oct. 4.
Taking inspiration from the global unity felt after the World Trade Center tragedy, he devised a truly global, populist film festival that would exclusively allow independent filmmakers a chance to project their thoughts and ideas across the entire globe, with a simultaneous festival airing in theaters around the world over the course of one week.
As of 2012, Mason has certainly accomplished this goal. He is now expecting a turnout of 100,000 film fans across 300 cities on six continents, including at least one screening in all 50 states.
The celebrity judges of previous years have been replaced by a more appropriate, populist approach to determining the winner of the festival.
After viewing the 10 finalists, every viewer is encouraged to vote for their favorite short film.
Mason has certainly accomplished something by bringing independent film to a world of people who may not have the money, connections or time to participate in a film festival that goes on for a period of days.
With a single movie ticket and two hours out of your day, you can experience something you might otherwise would never have been able to see: Aspiring filmmakers presenting their work for the first time to be judged by you.
The 10 films from across Europe and the Americas are fresh, inventive, multifarious and inspired from such disparate sources as Lars von Trier, Judd Apatow and Roald Dahl.
Although some of the films are unable to hide their minuscule budgets, many of them still push through will brilliant ideas. Short films have become an art of their own, and the limitations of their short time spans have helped inspire many filmmakers to really bring something powerful to the screen in a unique way.
The Manhattan Short Film Festival presents an array of films; each different in mood and tone. Given the all-encompassing nature of the festival, viewers are able to experience the hilarious, the absurd, the sobering and the gut-wrenching that only a film can provide.
Yet this is one of the major drawbacks to the Short Film Festival as well.
The highs and the lows of the festival are equally as satisfying, yet something odd is expressed when they are screened subsequently. At one of the more traditional film festivals viewers would consume something heartbreaking and have enough time to rest, and digest what they have just seen before walking into the next theater to see a screwball comedy.
This dichotomy of tone is especially noticeable when the short films are at their most successful. A good comedy will keep you smiling well after the film has ended, yet that smile began to feel uncomfortable and inappropriate when, minutes later, I was viewing a particularly dark and disturbing film that requires a very sober mood to view.
The the festival is an emotional roller coaster that, although awkward at times, is worth it for the delirious joy that caps off the final film.
Christopher Martin can be reached at [email protected].
