GALLIPOLI (LE), October 31, 2026
The first edition of HOFF – Horror Online Film Festival: Metamorphosis 2026 wrapped up Friday, October 30. This international festival dedicated to independent horror cinema was designed entirely for streaming and broadcast free on HOFF TV.
Five days of screenings, panels, and film discussions built toward the closing ceremony, featuring Federico Zampaglione, director and frontman of Tiromancino, and the announcement of this year's winners.
What the Tide Dragged In, directed by Chilean filmmaker Patricio Valladares and a co-production between Argentina, Brazil, and Chile, took home Best Feature Film.
French cinema dominated the awards, securing four wins overall: Even the Moon Will Bleed by Rémy Barbe and Stef Meyer won both Best Short Film and the AHIFF Award, while Romance Post-Mortem by Tinam Bordage claimed both the Creator Award and Critic Award.
The Dark Web Award, a special recognition from the festival's leadership, went to Jingle Hell by Gaby Smiths, an Argentina-UK co-production.
Italy took home the Social Award, voted by the public for Francesco Tassara's feature 0187 UFO, plus a special mention for Alberto Gelmi's short Mark No Evil.
The results round out the first edition's awards, which brought together 20 competing films from eight countries selected from 55 submissions. An international jury of 25 cinema professionals, critics, and industry figures made the selections.
All Winners of HOFF Metamorphosis 2026
BEST FEATURE FILM What the Tide Dragged In — Patricio Valladares Argentina, Brazil, Chile · Feature
BEST SHORT FILM Even the Moon Will Bleed — Rémy Barbe, Stef Meyer France · Short
CREATOR AWARD Romance Post-Mortem — Tinam Bordage France · Short
CRITIC AWARD Romance Post-Mortem — Tinam Bordage France · Short
DARK WEB AWARD Jingle Hell — Gaby Smiths Argentina, United Kingdom · Feature
AHIFF AWARD Even the Moon Will Bleed — Rémy Barbe, Stef Meyer France · Short
SOCIAL AWARD 0187 UFO — Francesco Tassara Italy · Feature
SPECIAL MENTION Mark No Evil — Alberto Gelmi Italy · Short
All awards and winning films are featured in the festival's official Hall of Fame: https://horroronlinefilmfest.it/hall-of-fame/
The Winning Films: Six Perspectives on Horror Cinema
The award-winning selection spans different genres, styles, and cinematographies, from psychological thrillers to supernatural undertones, right through to independent horror and its contemporary crossovers.
What the Tide Dragged In — Best Feature Film
Directed by Patricio Valladares, What the Tide Dragged In follows two sisters, Clara and Martina, who travel to an isolated beach to scatter their mother's ashes after her funeral. When Martina is swept away by a current, her return brings inexplicable behavior and mounting unease.
This Argentina-Brazil-Chile co-production builds its narrative around grief and family ties haunted by mysterious presences.
Even the Moon Will Bleed — Best Short Film and AHIFF Award
This French short by Rémy Barbe and Stef Meyer depicts an encounter between Raphaël, a tormented lone serial killer, and Lucie, a mysterious blind woman on the brink of suicide.
Set along the coasts of northern France, the film weaves together dread, isolation, and poetry, crafting a story where the search for human connection takes increasingly dark turns.
The work earned two recognitions: Best Short Film and AHIFF Award, from separate juries.
Romance Post-Mortem — Creator Award and Critic Award
Directed by Frenchman Tinam Bordage, Romance Post-Mortem follows a woman who awakens buried alive in an underground location with no memory of how she got there.
Searching to understand what's happening, she discovers her best friend's corpse in the darkness. This claustrophobic premise develops the relationship between fear, death, and emotional bonds.
The short won both the Creator Award and Critic Award—two distinct recognitions from their respective festival juries.
Jingle Hell — Dark Web Award
Gaby Smiths' feature, an Argentina-UK co-production, transforms the festive Christmas atmosphere into a horror scenario.
A group of strangers from different countries accepts an exclusive invitation to spend Christmas at a remote Argentine estate. Guests must surrender their phones and communicate only in English.
What seems like an unusual vacation, set in an old railway museum, gradually becomes a fight for survival, fraught with secrets, tensions, and an ominous presence.
Jingle Hell received the Dark Web Award, a recognition bestowed by HOFF's leadership. The award was previously given in 2025, before the festival's inaugural edition, to H010N by Luca Canale B. during the seventh edition of the Apulia Horror International Film Festival.
0187 UFO — Social Award
The public voted to honor 0187 UFO, an Italian feature directed by Francesco Tassara and set in La Spezia.
The story draws from accounts of UFO sightings in the La Spezia area, particularly during the 1970s.
Four young people decide to investigate these events, gathering testimonies and visiting locations tied to unexplained phenomena.
Their encounter with an enigmatic hermit, known as Grey Wolf, leads them through four unsettling stories of extraterrestrial experiences inspired by events claimed as real.
The film won the Social Award, voted through the festival's online voting system, which remained open until 11:59 PM on October 30.
Mark No Evil — Special Mention
A special mention was awarded to Italian short Mark No Evil, directed by Alberto Gelmi.
The protagonist is Marco, a solitary and awkward man living isolated in his own world. After accidentally hitting a man, he decides to hide the body.
During the drive, guilt compels him to speak to the corpse, establishing an increasingly unusual and disturbing relationship.
The short completes the first edition's awards with a story exploring the boundary between psychological distress, the grotesque, and horror.
Award Ceremony on HOFF TV: Directors and Cast Members Join Live
The closing ceremony didn't just announce the winners.
Several participants from the winning works streamed live on HOFF TV to join the ceremony and virtually accept their prizes.
Final event guests included:
Georgia Viero, Italian-Argentine actress, joining for Jingle Hell, winner of the Dark Web Award; Timam Bordage, director of Romance Post-Mortem, awarded the Creator Award and Critic Award; Alberto Gelmi, director of Mark No Evil, recipient of the special mention; Francesco Tassara, director of 0187 UFO, winner of the Social Award voted by audiences.
These connections allowed the award moment to be shared directly with the filmmakers and cast, creating dialogue between creators and viewers across geographic distances.
This approach reflects HOFF's nature: a festival designed for the digital realm, where live streaming serves as a meeting space alongside film projection.
Federico Zampaglione Leads the Final Event: Cinema, Music, and Horror
Federico Zampaglione, director and frontman of Tiromancino, was among the main guests at the closing ceremony, participating in a discussion about his artistic journey and the connection between music and horror cinema.
During the talk, his new film The Nameless Ballad, written with Barbara Baraldi (writer and editorial curator of Dylan Dog), was also discussed.
Following its world premiere at London's FrightFest, the film will premiere on October 31 at Lucca Comics & Games, ahead of its Italian theatrical release on November 5, 2026.
The closing was hosted by festival director Francesco Schirosi and co-director Tommaso Vignoli, joined by Andrea Cavalera, director of the Apulia Horror International Film Festival (AHIFF).
SIP, host of SIP-ARIO from L'Alfabeto del Rock, also participated in a conversation about the evolution of contemporary horror, emerging genre trends, and Ice Cream Man, Eli Roth's new film released in Italian theaters on October 29.
From Italy to South America: HOFF Thanks Its International Audience
A significant element of the inaugural edition was engagement from an international audience, who followed the festival through its livestreams and digital channels.
Special thanks go to Italy, which supported the project from its earliest stages, and to South American audiences, with particularly strong participation from Brazil and Argentina.
A special thank you also to France, which followed the festival with great interest, and to all viewers, directors, authors, and professionals who contributed to the five days.
Dialogue with South American audiences was reflected in the cultural programming, including a session with Brazilian science communicator Francine Arioza, a member of the HOFF 2026 jury, focused on South American horror cinema and its diverse identities.
Participation from viewers and filmmakers across different geographic regions represents a central aspect of the project: fostering international circulation of independent cinema and building relationships that extend beyond the festival itself.
Francesco Schirosi: "HOFF Won't Stop After Five Festival Days. On December 11, We'll Already Be at the University of Bari"
For HOFF's leadership, the conclusion of Metamorphosis 2026 marks the first chapter of a path meant to develop beyond the annual event.
Francesco Schirosi, HOFF director and founder of NetBridge Agency, states:
"This inaugural edition was a success, but the most important result isn't just bringing twenty international films to an audience without geographic boundaries. It's beginning to build a community around horror cinema—filmmakers, professionals, and viewers who share the same passion.
HOFF wasn't created to light up for five days a year and then disappear. We want it to become a year-round project that creates opportunities for connection, supports independent cinema, and explores horror through different forms and languages.
We're already starting on December 11 in Bari, as part of the DAMS OFF initiatives at the University of Bari Aldo Moro, with a session curated by professor Claudia Attimonelli. It will be the first event in a path we want to continue steadily.
And after that? For now, we prefer not to say more. But one thing is certain: Metamorphosis was just the beginning."
After the Festival: HOFF at the University of Bari Aldo Moro
The next public event is scheduled for Friday, December 11, 2026, from 9:50 AM to 12:20 PM, in Aula C of the Palazzo Ateneo at the University of Bari Aldo Moro.
The session, titled "Horror Online Film Festival 2026. HOFF Metamorphosis," will take place as part of the DAMS OFF initiatives, curated by professor Claudia Attimonelli, in collaboration with the School of Communication Sciences.
Expected participants include Francesco Schirosi, Gabriele Landrini, Luca Canale B., and Andrea Cavalera.
The event will focus on the relationship between horror cinema, audiovisual culture, digital communication, and new forms of cultural engagement.
It represents a concrete development of HOFF's path beyond the festival, with the goal of bringing genre cinema into spaces of academic learning, research, and dialogue.
HOFF Metamorphosis 2026: A Fully Digital Inaugural Edition
HOFF was born in Salento through a collaboration between NetBridge Agency, a marketing and communications firm founded by director Francesco Schirosi, and CineDistopic, a film promotion project by co-director Tommaso Vignoli.
From October 26-30, 2026, the festival offered five days of free streaming on HOFF TV, featuring 15 shorts and five features from Italy, France, the United States, Chile, Argentina, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and Brazil.
Beyond screenings, the program featured directors, critics, communicators, and audiovisual professionals, addressing topics ranging from body horror to international independent cinema, through crossovers between cinema, music, and contemporary culture.
Guests in the inaugural edition included, alongside Federico Zampaglione, Stefania De Peppe, Claudia Attimonelli, Walter Rastelli, Paolo Nizza, Luca Canale B., Francine Arioza, and Alessio Ciancianaini.
The festival's conclusion coincided with the launch of HOFF's Hall of Fame, the official archive of films, directors, and winning authors, housing the eight awards from the inaugural edition and those given by the festival on other occasions.
The Hall of Fame can be viewed at: https://horroronlinefilmfest.it/hall-of-fame/
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