So you've likely noticed that we're staring down the rancorous barrel of an election that's among the most significant (and freakishly protracted) in the history of this bruised yet still-stunning country. But that's not the only important decision on autumn's docket. After whittling down from 429 entries, 12 finalist films will unspool this week in 115 different cities across four continents as part of the 11th Annual Manhattan Short Film Festival. Your role in this particular democratic process is to march on down to the Little this Saturday, consider the various merits of a dozen shorts, and then select a favorite. And here's a tiny primer in hopes that you'll go get your vote on.

The program gets off to a darkly funny start with "Ripple" from the United Kingdom, in which an ordinary guy contends with the wavelets induced by a random act of highway vandalism. Set to the one-man psychobilly stomp of Detroit's Jawbone, our hero's brush with a sticky-fingered femme fatale ultimately leads to a body count he never envisioned. The Netherlands' "Ode Ober" is a fluidly shot meditation on the nature of service as seen through the calm, knowing eyes of a career waiter, upon whom it begins to dawn that there might be something beyond the familiar and expected.

Woven throughout the finalists are a few chapters of the USA's "Teat Beat of Sex," Russian filmmaker Signe Baumane's adorably explicit animation recounting how she came by her carnal knowledge, beginning with kissing (she likens the boy's tongue to "a lizard covered in egg whites"), "almost sex" on a grave, and then eventually getting it on with an older man unafraid of jail or her mom, because "Virginity is for olive oil." Also from these United States, "Rachel" is based on a true story and drops in on an intimate, beautifully acted exchange between a pregnant woman and the couple adopting her baby, just before it sucker-punches you with its naked manipulation.

Israel's tragic yet hopeful "Sour Milk" also boasts nonfiction roots, stemming from the childhood of filmmaker Amit Gicelter's grandmother. British Mandatory Palestine is bubbling with violent conflict in 1929, and both a Muslim shopkeeper and a Jewish mother risk their lives to protect 7-year-old Haya. Adapted from a short story by novelist Roddy Doyle (his famous Barrytown Trilogy includes "The Commitments"), Ireland's "New Boy" tells the story of Joseph, recently arrived from devastating circumstances in Africa but now contending with an ignorant alpha boy. Sinead Maguire nicks the film as the precocious Hazel, who, thankfully, is not as sycophantic as she initially appears.

The UK's suspenseful "Mother, Mine" features two juicy lead performances and unfolds as a lonely woman with far-apart eyes, grieving the death of her adoptive mother, tracks down her biological mom. The woman receives a reaction that she didn't anticipate and really can't handle, giving way to a shocking denouement that asks more questions than it answers. Avowed Clint Eastwood fan and filmmaker Pelle Moeller's semi-autobiographical "Make My Day" essentially wonders "What would Clint do?" if Dirty Harry were actually a young Danish boy who decides to transcend his own bullying experiences to defend his otherwise big-talking dad.

Filmmaker Mike Judge, who first gained attention by unleashing Beavis and Butthead upon an unsuspecting world, deviates from the biennial nature of his Animation Show to curate the fourth installment a mere year after the last one. The Animation Show 2008 - consider it an R, incidentally - features some of the world's most accomplished animated shorts, including the final chapter of Bill Plympton's Oscar-winning "Guard Dog"; this one's entitled "Hot Dog" and follows our slobbering, two-toothed canine friend as he decides to lend his community-minded enthusiasm to the fire department, with predictably inept results.

The artistic highlight of this year's collection might be "Western Spaghetti," an ingenious bit of stop-motion about the making of a meal that includes pick-up sticks, googly eyes, and candy-corn flames. Steve Dildarian's hilarious "Angry Unpaid Hooker" follows in the deadpan footsteps of "Dr. Katz" as a girlfriend returns from vacation to a surprise houseguest. Interspersed throughout the program are episodes of Dave Carter's irreverent "Psychotown," which should have you trying to play the game "Oranges" at your first opportunity. And though there is nothing ambiguous or subtle about "Yompi the Crotch-Biting Sloup," its predictability does nothing to quell a viewer's involuntary dread whenever the cuddly yellow title character bares his cute clay fangs. 

11th Annual Manhattan Short Film Festival

Screens Saturday at the Little Theatre

The Animation Show 2008

Screens Saturday-Sunday at the Dryden Theatre