MOTELX announces Méliès d’Argent winners 2026
The 20th edition of MOTELX – Lisbon International Horror Film Festival brought together 11 days of horror and fantastic cinema in Lisbon, with screenings and events taking place from 3 to 13 September at Cinema São Jorge and Cinemateca Portuguesa.
As part of our Méliès d’argent competitions, MOTELX presented 19 European short films and seven European feature films, offering a broad selection of contemporary genre cinema from across Europe.
And the winner is…
Méliès d’Argent Award Winner – Feature Film @ MOTELX 2026
The winner of the Méliès d’Argent Award for Best European Fantastic Genre Feature Film at MOTELX is “No rest for the wicked” by Kasper Kalle (Denmark, Iceland, Faroe Islands 2026).
Follows a fisherman who falls in love with a rugged whaler in the isolated Faroe Islands.
The jury, composed of journalist and music promoter Isilda Sanches, filmmaker Leone Niel, and cultural director and columnist Teresa Nicolau, praised the film for combining “desire, religion, repression, beauty, love and death with rare elegance”.
Méliès d’Argent Award Winner – Short Film @ MOTELX 2026
The winner of the Méliès d’Argent Award for Best European Fantastic Genre Short Film at MOTELX is Mancave by Fredrik S. Hana (Norway 2026).
Charlotte Husebø is drawn into a labyrinth of repressed fantasies and dark secrets when she discovers that her husband, Didrik Husebø, has a hidden room in the family’s garage.1995. She discovers the existence of the spheres.
1996. He searches for traces of their passage.
A mother and her son confront the tragic secrets we have inherited. From a class photograph to a satellite image, the story of a revelation.
The film was selected from a competition of 19 European short films. The jury, comprising programmer Fernando Vasquez, journalist and programmer José Santiago, and journalist and author Sandra Henriques, highlighted a work that depicts “a fiction uncomfortably close to reality”, following the claustrophobic journey of a protagonist searching for answers about the absence of their significant other.
Congratulations to Kasper Kalle, Fredrik S. Hana, and all the filmmakers whose work was part of the Méliès d’argent competitions at MOTELX 2026.
MOTELX is part of the Méliès International Festivals Federation, an association currently consisting of 35 film festivals, whose mission it is to promote European fantastic cinema around the globe. The Méliès d’argent is awarded to short films for cinematic quality and creativity. The winning short film at MOTELX qualifies for the competition for the Méliès d’or.
Don’t forget to watch the MELIES D’ARGENT Special Programs on our Méliès Fantastic Hub!