The Méliès d’Argent is awarded to a short film that is a bold and entertaining - a true celebration of genre cinema - taking us into the world of Basket Case and Eraserhead (in vivid colour!). Hospital Dumpster Divers, directed by Anders Elsrud Hultgreen (Norway), is a love letter to slasher and gore audiences, that lets the viewer experience the full gamut of emotions.

The Special Mention for an outstanding lead performance is awarded to Finnegan Oldfield for Acquaticans by Alice Barsby (France): a timely and important story realised in a unique artistic way and performed by a mesmerising emerging talent.

The second Special Mention goes to a stripped down, minimalistic genre film, which takes the viewer inside an Edgar-Alan-Poe-esque world: haunted by guilt for something that hasn’t happened yet. The world that the filmmakers have created with simple aesthetic tools, carries strong parallels to recent times, of mental and physical isolation. Expectancy by Juho Fossi (Finland).

While the main HÕFF programme has been rescheduled for August to allow for more onsite screenings, this selection of seven competing shorts have screened on the PÖFF online cinema, hosted by Elisa Stage and accessible throughout Estonia.
 
The Méliès d’Argent winner will advance to the final round of the European Best Fantasy Film Competition, named after French film illusionist Georges Méliès. The competition is organised by the Méliès Federation of European Fantasy Film Festivals, which HÕFF has been a member of for many years. 

The films were be judged by a jury of Alan Ssali Hofmanis, producer at Uganda’s Wakaliwood, critic Kaspar Viilup, producer Helen Vinogradov and screenwriter Andris Feldmanis.

PHOTO Still from "Hospital Dumpster Divers"