MIFF announces the Winners of the Méliès d’Or 2026
For the ninth consecutive year, the SITGES – International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia hosted the ceremony for the Méliès d’Or Awards, presented annually by the Méliès International Festivals Federation to recognise the best European fantastic feature film and short film of the year.
This year, the Méliès d’Or for Best European Fantastic Feature Film went to Feels Like Home, while the Méliès d’Or for Best European Fantastic Short Film was awarded to The Old Lady and the Eternity, directed by Marc Martínez Jordán.
Méliès d’Or 2026 — Feature Film: Feels Like Home
Feels Like Home received the Méliès d’Or for Best European Fantastic Feature Film 2026, following its success in the Méliès d’argent competition at the SITGES – International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia.
The award celebrates the creativity and originality of European fantastic cinema, recognising a feature film selected from the productions awarded the Méliès d’argent by festivals belonging to the Méliès International Festivals Federation.
Méliès d’Or 2026 — Short Film: The Old Lady and the Eternity
The Méliès d’Or for Best European Fantastic Short Film went to The Old Lady and the Eternity, directed by Marc Martínez Jordán.
The film follows Josefa Centeno, an 86-year-old woman who refuses to accept a digital afterlife imposed by an authoritarian regime. Drawing on archival footage, the director reimagines his grandmother’s life as a science-fiction fable about love, resistance and the right to choose one’s own ending.
The film previously won the Méliès d’argent for Best European Short Film at the Strasbourg European Fantastic Film Festival, where it also received the Golden Octopus for Best International Short Film.
Méliès Career Award 2026 — Alejandro Amenábar
During the gala, the Méliès International Festivals Federation honoured Spanish-Chilean filmmaker Alejandro Amenábar with the Méliès Career Award, recognising his outstanding contribution to cinema, particularly his work in the fantastic genre.
The Méliès International Festivals Federation has honoured Spanish-Chilean filmmaker Alejandro Amenábar with the 2026 Méliès Career Award, recognising his decisive contribution to fantastic cinema.
The award was presented at the SITGES – International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia, where the 30th anniversary of his debut feature, Thesis (1996), was also celebrated.
Accepting the award, Amenábar thanked the festival for its passion and enthusiasm for fantastic and horror cinema. He also revealed that his next project will be a mystery film, somewhere between psychological horror and suspense, expressing his hope that he will be able to present it at Sitges.
Born in Santiago, Chile, in 1972, Amenábar is a director, screenwriter and composer whose films combine psychological suspense, philosophical questions and explorations of the boundaries between reality and perception.
He emerged internationally with his debut feature, Thesis (1996), followed by Open Your Eyes (1997), which attracted international attention and was later remade in Hollywood as Vanilla Sky. His third feature, The Others (2001), starring Nicole Kidman, became an international success and established him as one of the leading directors working in psychological and supernatural cinema.
Amenábar subsequently directed The Sea Inside (2004), which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, as well as Agora (2009), Regression (2015) and While at War (2019). Across his filmography, he has explored themes of identity, faith, mortality and the nature of human experience.
The Méliès Career Award celebrates his distinctive vision and lasting contribution to European cinema, acknowledging a body of work that has brought psychological suspense, supernatural storytelling and philosophical inquiry to international audiences.
The Méliès International Festivals Federation
The Méliès d’Or Awards are presented annually by the Méliès International Festivals Federation, a network of European festivals dedicated to promoting fantastic cinema and supporting the international circulation of European genre productions.
