Manhattan International Film Festival 2012

The World Youth Alliance’s Manhattan International Film Festival was founded to inspire young directors to portray authentic accounts of the human experience that provide deeper insight into the inherent nature of human dignity. Film has the capacity to create a distinct world that consciously and sub-consciously informs human values and attitudes, affecting one’s understanding of the human condition in all of its frailty, strength, constancy, and changeability. This festival welcomes film entries that represent the triumph of the human spirit, heroic accounts of the individual’s use of freedom, the power of solidarity among people from diverse backgrounds, and other pieces of work that artfully draw viewers into a deeper contemplation of the human condition. Films from directors in all parts of the world will be reviewed, and the top four submissions will be selected by a panel of judges and presented at the Manhattan International Film Festival in New York on January 27-28, 2011. The directors of the selected films will be invited to Manhattan for the festival, which will gather film professionals while providing an array of events including film screenings, panel discussions, speakers, and social gatherings designed to forge personal connections. The Manhattan International Film Festival is a cultural project of the World Youth Alliance (WYA), a coalition of over 1 million young people affirming the dignity of the human person as the foundation for all human rights. This dignity is inherent to the human condition and cannot be rescinded by any individual, government, or society. Through education, advocacy work, and cultural programs, the WYA seeks to recognize and nurture all aspects of the individual, responding to the physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual needs of the human person.