HARD:LINE Film Festival Announces Their Short Film Programming

Hard:line

Once a year, the international HARD:LINE Film Festival presents barriers and perspectives of extreme cinema and transforms Regensburg into a capital of genre and subculture. Over five days, contributions from the genres of horror, thriller and science fiction are shown, mostly as German premieres.

As the festival’s media partner, Dread Central is excited to exclusively announce HARD:LINE’s full shorts program!

More About HARD:LINE’s Short Films 

The HARD:LINE Film Festival selects 16 short films from all over the world. Ten of the selected titles are competing for the Méliès D’Argent, the award for the best European fantastic short. Six other films from outside Europe are chosen to represent the finest in international genre film. As the shorts at the festival are getting constantly more popular, the festival shifted their screening slots for the very first time. Both blocks will be presented at the famous Ostentor Cinema.

Short Film Block 1

  •  La Penumbra (Spain)
  • Cutter (USA)
  • Man or Tree (Great Britain)
  • Forbidden (Finland)
  • O (Germany)
  • Dana (Spain)
  • The Tenant (Spain)
  • Good Girl (New Zealand)

Short Film Block 2

  • Blinded by Desire (Lebanon)
  • Freebirth (USA)
  • Donkerster (Netherlands)
  • Smile (Canada)
  • Part Forever (Thailand)
  • Au Pair (Spain)
  • 665 (Spain)
  • Survivers (Spain)

The Méliès D’Argent Award 

As a member of the Méliès International Festivals Federation (MIFF), the festival presents the coveted Méliès D’Argent Award for the best European short film entry. Many renowned guests from all over the world are invited to present their work in Regensburg and answer questions from the audience. HARD:LINE offers a platform for the darker side of cinema entertainment and presents border crossers of good taste, will-o’-the-wisps of popular genres or simply highlights beyond the mainstream.

Hard:line

HARD:LINE’s Jury

HARD:LINE is always searching for a diverse jury that can judge films from different perspectives. They find three judges to create a friendly atmosphere of disagreement. In other words: It’s fun but serious stuff.

This year’s judges are:
 – Manuel Ewald, Manager of acquisitions at Koch Films
 – Huan Vu, Director of THE COLOUR
 – Kevin Zindler, Managing director and chief editor at Art of Horror magazine.


Due to the pandemic, the festival shifted its typical September dates to April. They’re also going hybrid again due to the pandemic. From April 6 to 10, there will be live screenings. Then from April 14 to April 24, there’s a ten-day catch-up online film festival.

While the onsite festival contains 15 features and 16 shorts, the online festival will have eight features and 16 short films. Learn more and get your tickets here.

Share: 
Tags:

Categorized:

Sign up for The Harbinger a Dread Central Newsletter