The deadline for feature and short film submissions for the 20th HÕFF is March 23rd, 2025. The festival will take place from April 30–May 26-28, 2025.
Haapsalu Horror and Fantasy Film Festival (HÕFF) accepts feature films and short films.
European short films have the chance to win the prestigious Méliès d’Argent award, presented by the Méliès International Festivals Federation (MIFF). All feature films have a chance to win the HÕFF Audience Award.
Haapsalu Horror and Fantasy Film Festival accepts entries exclusively via FilmFreeway.
Waiver Policy
Submission fees are used to fund screening rights, special events and marketing.
As much as we love and appreciate your films and work, we are unfortunately unable to provide free waivers at this time. If you have any questions about the submission process, please write to info@poff.ee.
Regulations and requirements
1.1 Films premiered after: April 1st, 2024
1.2 Short (45 minutes or under) or full-length (45 minutes or over) films
1.3 Genre cinema (fantasy, horror, sci-fi, etc.)
1.4 Screening format: DCP (Interop or SMPTE), FullHD 1920x1080px Prores, DNxHD, h264 in .mov container
1.5 Translation: with English subtitles if not spoken in English
Méliès d’Argent Competition Film Eligibility Criteria
2.1 Films premiered after: January 1st, 2024
2.2 Short films (25 minutes or under)
2.3 The Film must belong to the fantastic genre
2.4 The Film must not have won a Silver Méliès at another festival
2.5 The Film must be a European production.
The determination of the European character of a film is done according to the 2 following options:
The director(s) is (are) European and in this case, a co-production could be considered (1 or 2 European countries and 1 non-European country).
The director(s) is (are) non-European, in which case the production has to be entirely European (a non-European co-production, even as a minority interest, is not accepted).
The list of countries accepted as European is:
Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and Croatia.
For more information, please contact: submissions@hoff.ee