Manhattan Short Film Festival - Big Sky 2026

MANHATTAN SHORT Film Festival: You Be the Judge!

MANHATTAN SHORT 2026 is the only event of its kind! Discover your inner film critic by casting your vote for Best Film and Best Actor in the 29th Annual MANHATTAN SHORT Film Festival screening September 24 - October 4, 2026. You'll join film lovers simultaneously in over 500 venues across the globe gathering to see the Ten Finalist in this year's event. With past finalists garnering Oscar nominations and short films continuing to move into the Hollywood mainstream, come see this entertaining program featuring the best short films in the world today!

Ballots supplied upon entry.

 Date & Time
The Big Sky screening of the Manhattan Short Film Festival will be playing at the Big Sky Waypoint on Thursday, October 1st at 7PM/ doors open at 6pm. Come early and grab dinner or a drink before the show!

This Year's List: 

Small Talk

Directed by: Eduardo Moral (USA) – 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 (Ireland) – 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 (Australia) – A young girl thinks a man in the candy bar line looks like her  

Vultures

Directed by: Dian Weys (South Africa) –  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: Kat Butterfield & Daniel Audritt (United Kingdon) – 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 (Moldovoa) –  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 (Russia) – 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.  

Norheimsund.

Directed by: Ana. A. Alpizar (Cuba) – 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

Director and Animator: Mamuka Tkeshelashvili (Georgia) – 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 (Hungary, Mexico) – 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.

Trailer:
2026 Manhattan Short Film Festival Trailer