By Nelia Dashiell
This weekend, Old Ox Brewery will be hosting the 18th Annual Manhattan Short Film Festival. Manhattan Short first began in 1998 on the side of a truck in New York City. It has now grown immensely, branching out over six continents with thousands of film-lovers watching these short films in the same week. This year this worldwide festival is taking place in our local area of Ashburn.
At this film festival, the audience is the judge. Upon entrance at the venue, guests will receive a voting card and vote for one of the films they believe deserves to win. After tallying up all the votes from all venues, the winner will be announced on Oct. 5 on the Manhattan Short website. The 10 countries and films to be debuted this year are “Listen” (Finland), “Dad In Mum” (France), “Bear Story” (Chile), “Forever Over” (Germany), “Shok” (Kosovo), “Grounded”(France), “Sundown” (Turkey), “Patch” (Switzerland), “El Camino Solo” (USA) and “Bis Gleich” (Germany).
So why Ashburn this year? Graham Burns, one of the four owners of Old Ox Brewery, says it was not by chance. Being a huge fan of this film festival, Burns would travel a whole hour to Winchester to see these films in years past. This year, he noticed the same situation and decided to take it upon himself to host the festival at his family owned brewery.
“Knowing that the festival is not limited to traditional movie venues, I contacted Nicholas Mason, the director of Manhattan Short, and asked if he would consider our brewery as a venue. Obviously, he would. So here we are.”
Come grab a pint and check out the festival this weekend Oct. 2-3 at 8 p.m. at Old Ox Brewery. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at oldoxbrewery.com.
