In 1998 Nick Mason was showing New York City audiences international short films on the side of a truck in Little Italy.

Today that audience spans 300 cities in six continents, proving, in his own way, that despite their location, film enthusiasts are not all that different.

This week, Leesburg will join Mason’s audience for the 15th annual Manhattan Short Film Festival.

To be held at The Village at Leesburg’s Cobb 12 Cinemas, audiences will get the opportunity to vote for 10 short film finalists. The finalists were selected out of 520 entries received from 49 countries.

This year Norway, The Netherlands, Russia, England, Ireland, Peru, France, Romania, Spain and the United States will be represented in the 18-minute long films.
The winner will be announced at 10 p.m. Oct. 7 in New York City.

Past finalists have gone on to win an Oscar in the short film category, the founder said.

Mason, who describes the festival as “Earth Day, but with film,” said he never imagined the festival would gain the popularity it has received.

The festival always had international entries, but it wasn’t until after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that the event gained more international recognition. 

Held 12 days after the attacks, international news crews were already in New York City covering the aftermath of the attacks and got a chance to give their home country’s films publicity.

“The park [where the festival was held] became like a shrine,” Mason said. “It was just like this United Nations of short films going across the screens.”

The festival, at the time, also gave grieving New Yorkers a chance to get away from the chaos that was going on around them, Mason said.

Even after 15 years, the founder still is astonished at how fast his festival has grown.

In 2010, Africa became the sixth continent added to the list of locations where residents can vote on the films.

This year, however is a first for Mason and his film festival. The movies, usually shown in independent movie houses, made the move to corporate-owned theaters, such as Cobb.
Officials with Cobb Theaters approached Mason about showing the festival on their screens.

“What I really liked about it is it does support the filmmaker but it does involve the audience, they get to vote on it,” said Jeremy Wellman, chief operating officer of Cobb Theaters. “It will be really interesting to see how these films are voted on around the globe.”

Wellman said Cobb is trying to do more than just provide audiences with the typical Hollywood-style high explosion, billion dollar movies. The independent films, he said, helps to supplement the lull that comes after the summer blockbusters are gone and fall and winter set in.

“I think that in a lot of ways we’re up to the challenge because our guests are looking for something sophisticated,” Wellman said.

Cobb is also approaching the idea of vintage comedy and horror movie nights for its audiences.

For Mason, the ultimate goal is to one day have the films broadcast network wide.

However, Mason is more excited when he talks about how his festival has the unique ability to bring communities together around the world – at least for a few nights.

“It’s about communities getting together, I suppose,” he said. “Looking back at the festival and how it’s grown, it was towns like yours that made it was it is.”

If you go:
The Manhattan Short Film Festival will be held at The Cobb Village 12 Cinemas in Leesburg at 5 p.m. Sept. 29, 2 p.m. Sept. 30 and 7 p.m. Oct. 4.
Filmgoers will be given a voting card upon entry and asked to vote for the film they feel should win.
Tickets are $11.
For more information and to view clips of the films, visit http://www.msfilmfest.com