“The Chico time” wins Motelx prize for best short

Lisboa, 12 Sep 2026 (Lusa) – The film “The Time of Chico”, by João Severo and Rafael Sá Carneiro, won the Motelx Award tonight, best short of Portuguese terror, at the end of the 20th edition of the horror film festival.

The International Film Terror Festival of Lisbon, Motelx, took place in Lisbon from day 03 and ends on Sunday. The awards were announced tonight.

The Motelx Prize for the best Portuguese short horror 2026 was the biggest monetary distinction for national short films, five thousand euros.

“The time of Chico”, about the dilemma of a television presenter in the 1970s, urged to kill a colleague by profession, competed in a group of ten films.

In the award announcement, with the film “Consumed”, without dialogue, receiving an honorable mention, featured the Méliès d’argent Award for Best European Short, awarded to “Mancave”, by the Norwegian director Fredrik S. Hana, who won on a list of 19 films in competition.

With the Méliès d’argent Award for Best European Film, he was awarded “No Rest for the Wicked” by the Danish Kasper Kalle.

Still on the list of awards, the Motelx Award for best Portuguese horror script was awarded to Miguel Monteiro Rico with “Hóspede”, and an honorable mention went to “A Ostra”, Pedro Garrido.

“Lexi”, a Spanish production film directed by Bruno Simões, was the winner of the Lobo Mau Award, whose jury is composed of three young people from the Passa Sabi Association, an association of community roots founded by the residents of the Bairro do Rego, in Lisbon, in 2014. Bruno Simões won in the section dedicated to the younger audience and families.

And the Public Award was in the hands of “Gunman”, with the realization and argument of Argentine filmmaker Cris Tapia Marchiori.

This year's edition of Motelx marked the 20 years of the initiative and was the largest ever, taking place for 11 days at Cinema São Jorge and at Cinemateca Portuguesa.

The next edition was scheduled for September 7-13, 2027.