’8 Minutes’ claims Manhattan Short Film Festival principal award

Short film 8 Minutes by director Giorgi Gogichaishvili has collected its latest international award after winning the anniversary 20th Manhattan Short Film Festival.

The recent release, honoured from judges of the Short to the Point Festival and Sydney Indie Film Festival, was distinguished with the award by viewers of the shorts festival on Sunday.

Produced by Sibler Films, the film follows its protagonists in an apocalyptic scenario of the sun’s light going out.

Its script focuses on decisions of featured characters over eight minutes — the time needed for the sun’s rays to cease reaching the planet — before the total blackout.

The short was unveiled by organisers of the festival as the winner of votes from audiences from over 300 venues worldwide.

The Manhattan festival, which screens its selections to over 100,000 cinema enthusiasts, picked 8 Minutes among its finalists earlier this year.

Selected from over 1,600 initial submissions from 75 countries, the 10 shortlisted films were then screened to film fans before they cast their votes.

The script of the short follows characters in their decisions leading up to a total solar blackout. Photo: Manhattan Short.

The selection among the finalists also made the film eligible for the 2018 Academy Awards.

Beside its international prizes, the work by Gogichaishvili also collected a Georgian National Film Centre contest grant during its production phase.

Marta Savina’s short Viola, Franca won the second place of the Manhattan festival, while Mare Nostrum by Rana Kazkaz and Anas Khalaf completed the trio of awarded productions.