The film company "Arthouse Traffic," which organises screenings in Ukrainian cinemas, is terminating its collaboration with the festival and its founder, Nick Mason. After 16 years of joint work, Ukrainian co-organizers are refusing to host the event.

This year, the main organiser of the Manhattan Short Film Festival has decided to resume screenings for Russians (in 2022, sessions in Russia were cancelled). Especially for Russians, the festival has organised online viewing with Russian subtitles in over 50 countries, making Russian viewers the most privileged, as no viewer from any other country has such broad opportunities, reported by  ZAXID.NET

Among the countries where online viewing is available are the Russian Federation and Belarus, where offline screenings are held. The festival's website provides direct instructions for residents of the Russian Federation, explaining how to bypass sanctioned payment systems when buying a ticket, confirming its focus on Russians, as reported by "Arthouse Traffic" .

The project description of the festival also exhibits elements of self-censorship, as it does not disclose the reasons for last year's pause for "Russian-speaking supporters," referring to an unspecified "situation that has arisen."

The American organiser and founder of the festival, Nick Mason, ignores the arguments of the Ukrainian co-organizer, the film company "Arthouse Traffic," regarding the inappropriateness and disgracefulness of supporting Russia, as well as providing entertainment content to its citizens responsible for the invasion of Ukraine. Nick Mason's only solution was a minor change on the festival's website – online screenings ceased to be positioned as "screenings for Russians," becoming "screenings for Russian speakers."

The Manhattan Short Film Festival is an event that annually brings together over 100,000 fans of short films in more than 500 cities on 6 continents. The festival is interactive, and winners are determined by audience voting. This year's event will take place for the 26th time. The Ukrainian festival was widely recognized and one of the most visited short film festivals. The film company "Arthouse Traffic" was a constant local organiser, planning to hold the event for the seventeenth time this year.