NIFFF Announces Méliès d’Argent Winners 2026

The 25th edition of the Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival (NIFFF) came to a close after nine days celebrating the very best of international fantastic cinema. Marking its milestone anniversary, the festival welcomed around 165 guests, presented 129 films from across the globe and attracted an estimated 61,000 attendees, with sold-out screenings, standing ovations and memorable encounters confirming the enduring enthusiasm for bold and innovative genre filmmaking.

The festival’s awards honoured a remarkable selection of films that push the boundaries of fantastic cinema, recognising outstanding achievements across its international, Asian and audience competitions. Among the highlights, the Méliès d’argent Award was presented to the Best European Fantastic Genre Feature Film, continuing the festival’s commitment to promoting excellence in European genre cinema.
And the winner is…

The winner of the Méliès d’Argent Award for Best European Fantastic Genre Feature Film at NIFFF is Sie glauben an Engel, Herr Drowak? by Nicolas Steiner (DE/CH, 2025).

When the cheerful student Lena Jakobi applies for a job as a writing coach at the “Amt” as part of a social program, she has no idea of the abysmal nature of the nihilistic world of the unemployed Hugo Drowak.
Always drunk, unwashed and antisocial, Hugo nevertheless seems to have a remarkable talent for writing. Despite his notorious vulgarities, Lena continues to encourage him to face up to the creative process – and thus his own traumatic past.
Hugo begins to write about his great childhood love Ana and recalls with all his might the long-forgotten, magical power of love. Lena, who becomes increasingly close to a young “official employee” named Marlon over the course of the scheme, is deeply moved by Hugo’s tender story and endeavors to uncover the human core behind his rough facade.
But digging for happiness in the misanthrope’s past turns out to be the most deceptive of all traps. For “no pain is harder to bear than to remember the time of happiness in misfortune” (Dante Alighieri). Hugo’s past threatens to break him and Lena has no idea what to do about it. However, her encounter with Hugo has changed her and she begins to feel a new inner strength.
“Do you believe in angels, Mr. Drowak?” is a magical and realistic story between tragedy and comedy. It tells of dreams and nightmares, of courage and fear, of hope and failure. Of love and loss. And of the mercilessness of longing.

The winner of the Méliès d’Argent Award for Best European Fantastic Genre Short Film at NIFFF is “Le Mouvement tragique des sphères” by Simon Rieth (France, 2025).

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.