Sit back in a cinema-style chair and picture this: It’s 1996 and a young actor from Australia is watching his student film being shown on a large screen during his graduation ceremony at one of the top acting schools in New York City.

He is excited to be done, and he is excited to be in New York City, the place of dreams, hope, success and hard work.

He is like other artists, entrepreneurs and star-gazing types who come to the city and expect all the rumors to be true.

He looks out into the audience, stuck in the middle of the huge masses. He sees only one type of people.

Mothers, fathers and relatives sit wide-eyed, watching the culminating work of these students.

But after all the money and time spent on these films and the classes over the years, the young actor wonders who will actually see these works.

In this city saturated by art, how do young students, such as himself, break out and get exposure?

And then the realization hits him.

Nobody who is anybody even knows about these films.

He thinks about it more and more, until he becomes really angry.

From this situation, The Manhattan Short Film Festival gradually grew.

The young actor, Nick Mason, calls it his “Jerry Maguire” moment – the moment he thought about hosting his own film festival and said, “I’m gonna go do this.”

“I wanted to put on a festival and invite everyone but the studios,” Mason said.

After begging for funding from Fujifilm, projecting the films on the side of a truck on Mulberry Street in New York’s Little Italy for awhile and then getting run off by “thugs” who broke the screen, the irony is that all the studios are paying attention as his film festival reaches its 11th annual screening.

Over the course of one week at the end of September, 295 showings of the Manhattan Short Film Festival will play in 115 cities with about 100,000 people participating.

The submitted films must be under 16 minutes for this festival.

Mason calls these short films calling cards for the industry.

Show them, don’t tell them, he said.

Each year, Mason said he hopes to bring the festival to one new continent and three new college towns.

This year, Athens is one of those towns.

The ultimate goal for Mason is to unite the world with 12 films, which is why he allows audiences to vote on their favorite.

Every attendee is given a voting card before the films begin, and winners will be announced after the final screening in New York City on Sept. 28.

“This is a film Olympics,” Mason said. “These films sum up what’s happening in the world, and they are the best short films in the world. They give a glimpse into that part of the world, colored by that world.”

Mason is not the only one to recognize the talent behind the films in the festival.

In 2007, three of the finalists screened at the Sundance Film Festival, one of which was eventually nominated for a British Academy of Film and Television Arts award. Another went on to receive an Academy Award nomination.

Mason said The Manhattan Short Film Festival brings communities together in a way that being online or in front of a TV cannot.

“The moments I remember most in my life were not on TV or on a computer – They were shared with a group of people,” he said. “Lots of film festivals have a scene, but this festival has a point.”

The 12 films chosen this year out of 429 entries chose themselves because they are that good, Mason said.

He believes that certain stories will reach different people.

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The film Mason connects with most, called “Change Coming,” is directed by Mark Alston.

This film is based on a true story and set on an Australian farm.

The family in this film has a 9-month-old child, no money and no water, but they still love each other, Mason said.

“This film is set in Australia, yes, but it’s going on throughout the world. It’s about the greenhouse effect and about a couple breaking down.”

Mason is careful to point out that the films are not about the conflict or setting. They are only colored by them.

“Art is based on a true story,” said Chris King, the American director of another short film called “Rachel.”

His film – co-written and co-produced with his wife – is about a suburban couple who finally meets the pregnant young woman whose baby they are adopting.

They are left with haunting and unforgettable memories of her.

In his phone interview, he tried to be cryptic and subtle about the ending because he didn’t want to give too much away.

“This is such a personal story,” King said. “I shot it with extreme close-ups for an intimate exchange. I’m intrigued by hard drama, how a human being can be so cruel.”

“This is a powerful story that hits the viewer on a gut-level. If you leave them wanting more, you may be on to something.”

Another short film, also bound to be shocking to some viewers, is called “Teat Beat of Sex” and is directed by another American, Signe Baumane.

“I do like to talk about sex,” Baumane said in her exotic Latvian accent.

“I like to talk about it because it’s taboo. People think you’re weird. I like the shock value.”

For her entry, Baumane will screen animated episodes about touchy topics, such as why women need panties and masturbation.

“It’s important to talk about these things because girls feel so lonely,” she said. “I thought I was supposed to experience amazing things, but it’s alright not to.”

She said her inspiration came from wanting to attract attention and looking for something to distract people from war.

She believes short films have a bright future in a world where people have short attention spans.

“Like a good song, you can watch it over and over again,” she said.

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Mason also connects short films to a good song, his example being “Imagine” by John Lennon.

“What a bloody gift,” he said, describing the effect the song has had on the world.

“I really like the idea of world peace. I don’t understand why and how we collectively as living, breathing animals allow cruel and unnecessary things to happen.”

“I want to somehow bring people together around the world.”

For the first time this Friday, Athens will be able to be a part of that vision.