Harton International Film Festival 2026

[Natal]

You must be registered to see images.

Harton
2026
:: International Film Festival ::
Open to All Filmmakers & Producers​

​

• Full name: Harton International Film Festival;​
• Common name: HIFF, or simply Harton Festival;​
• Founded: 1962;​
• Location: Harton, Commonwealth of New Averin, Union of Natal;​
• Principal Venues: Pinewood Grand Theatre; Harton Civic Hall; the Rialto on Harbour Street;​
• Frequency: Annual, held each May-June;​
• Governing Body: The Natalian Motion Picture Academy, in partnership with the Pinewood Foundation;​

In an effort to unite the peoples of the world through culture and artistic expression, HIFF has brought together in the last 64 years the finest filmmakers, directors and actors to offer audiences the best motion pictures produced annually across the globe. Founded in 1962 with the goal of showcasing the full diversity of human culture and promoting peace and free exchange, HIFF continues its mission to provide a completely free and uncensored environment for artists from every nation. No government endorsement is required for submission. No government objection will result in withdrawal. The festival's founding charter guarantees every selected work its right to be seen.
​

Award Categories:

• Best Actor
• Best Actress
• Best Director
• The Golden Pine (Best Feature Film)
• Best Documentary
• Best Short Film

Entry Submission Template:

FEATURE TITLE
Black River Road

FEATURE DIRECTOR
Callum Beasley

FEATURE CAST
Seamus Holt, Cara Thomas, Paul Ashford, Joe Hunt

FEATURE DESCRIPTION:

In the winter of 1971, deep in the logging country of Harwick, a Nariskett trapper named Elan Crow (Joe Hunt) discovers the frozen body of a young woman on the ice of the Black River. The local sheriff (Seamus Holt), a Country Party man with debts to the logging company that owns half the county, buries the case before it begins. Crow, barred from the inquest on procedural grounds that no one bothers to disguise, takes the investigation into his own hands, drawing in a disgraced Harton journalist (Paul Ashford) who has retreated to the interior to drink himself quietly into obscurity, and a young Nariskett Nation legal advocate (Cara Thomas), newly arrived from Duncantown. The film centres less on who the woman was and who is her killer or what caused it, but rather portrays a society that begins to care more of corporate interest than in its civic and citizen interests, and how this is degenerating human relations.​

 

[Natal]

Submissions by the Natalian Movie Picture Academy

FEATURE TITLE
Black River Road (Feature Film)

FEATURE DIRECTOR
Callum Beasley

FEATURE CAST
Seamus Holt, Cara Thomas, Paul Ashford, Joe Hunt

FEATURE DESCRIPTION:
In the winter of 1971, deep in the logging country of Harwick, a Nariskett trapper named Elan Crow (Joe Hunt) discovers the frozen body of a young woman on the ice of the Black River. The local sheriff (Seamus Holt), a Country Party man with debts to the logging company that owns half the county, buries the case before it begins. Crow, barred from the inquest on procedural grounds that no one bothers to disguise, takes the investigation into his own hands, drawing in a disgraced Harton journalist (Paul Ashford) who has retreated to the interior to drink himself quietly into obscurity, and a young Nariskett Nation legal advocate (Cara Thomas), newly arrived from Duncantown. The film centres less on who the woman was and who is her killer or what caused it, but rather portrays a society that begins to care more of corporate interest than in its civic and citizen interests, and how this is degenerating human relations.

FEATURE TITLE
Last Tide (Short Film)

FEATURE DIRECTOR
Niamh Calloway

FEATURE CAST
Brigid Orr, Thomas Wick

FEATURE DESCRIPTION
Eighty-three years old and the last working fisherwoman on the Shelby waterfront, Mary Wick (Brigid Orr) has pulled lobster traps from the same stretch of coast for six decades. On the morning her grandson Thomas (Thomas Wick) arrives to drive her to the care home in Elmira, she rises before dawn and goes out one final time. No dialogue is spoken for the first 80% of the film. What it observes instead is the unhurried ritual of a life organised entirely around pulling out the traps in the morning, and the tragedy of a life ending.​

FEATURE TITLE
Sealight (Documentary)

FEATURE DIRECTOR
David Watson

FEATURE CAST
Constance Bates-Moore, Vivienne Bates-Moore

FEATURE DESCRIPTION

Behind a rusted iron gate on the Gold Bay seafront stands the Sealight Estate, once the grandest private residence on the Thaumantic coast north of Harton, built in the 1890s by shipping magnate Edmund Bates-Moore and for three decades the site of the most celebrated summer gatherings in Natalian society. Today it houses two women: Constance Bates-Moore, eighty-one, Edmund's granddaughter and former Harton society figure, who has not left the property in eleven years; and her daughter Vivienne, fifty-four, who trained at the Pinewood studios in the 1980s, appeared in three films of moderate distinction, and returned to Gold Bay in 1994 to look after her mother for what she described at the time as six months. Director David Watson spent eight weeks inside Sealight with a two-person crew and permission to film whatever he found, which was 17 cats, 5 racoons, 2 dogs, a dillapidated and collapsing mansion and two eccentric women.​

 

[Talashan]

Submissions by the Talani Guild of Cinema

FEATURE TITLE
Under the Pomegranate Tree (Feature Film)

FEATURE DIRECTOR
Kambiz Shariati (award-winning hipster director)

FEATURE CAST
Reza Tarokh(The Investigator), Leilana Farahani(The Wife)

FEATURE DESCRIPTION:
Moody and complex dust noir movie with stark and fascinating cinematography, the movie adapts a Ramin Chandra detective story which centres the story around the failing marriage of an over-worked, sleepless investigator trying to solve the murder of a protestor in the dark and turbulent days of the 1970s, when the Shahdom seemed at its weakest and on the brink of revolution. Torn between his collapsing private life and a public world spiralling into violent madness and bloody corruption, the Investigator finds himself dreaming of a young girl under a pomegranate tree, who symbolises the ever-watchful innocent within Talani society, whose young eyes see all and strip away all deception and hypocrisy.

Makes extensive use of modern and retro cinematic techniques to create a jarring and visually rich movie layered with searing critique of modern life.


FEATURE TITLE
Becoming the Iron Sardar (Biopic)

FEATURE DIRECTOR
Naghme Mousavi (pioneering female director)

FEATURE CAST
Hossein Viseri (as himself)

FEATURE DESCRIPTION:
A short and thoughtful biopic focused on the life story of the legendary Talani wrestler and current social media sensation, Hossein Viseri. The movie peels back some of the myth and hype, and reveals a story about a troubled man fighting inner demons with a difficult home life who found an outlet for his violent urges in Talashan's working-class gym culture.

Now a corporate spokesperson and larger-than-life character, Hossein admits that much of what he does online is for the persona, but he is still passionate about providing a kind of role-model for the troubled youth of Talashan.


FEATURE TITLE
Arasha of the Swift Arrows (Animated Film)

FEATURE DIRECTOR
Noureddin Sadeghi (the "father" of Talanimation)

FEATURE CAST
Hilola Satrapi (voice of Arasha)

FEATURE DESCRIPTION
An epic and beautifully animated 120-minute film that centres on a fictional re-telling of the story of Arash the Archer, one of Talashan's most popular and ancient mythological stories, only recontextualised with the titular hero as a young tomboyish girl struggling to prove herself in a deeply patriarchal tribal society. When her people are threatened with slavery and death by the cruel empire of the Labylonians, Arasha must put her horsemanship and archery skills to the ultimate test to defeat larger-than-life bronze colossi awakened to wreak havoc on the land.

The twentieth film from Talanimation's most celebrated director, Noureddin Sadeghi here shows he has lost none of his touch, nor his passionate commitment to beautiful animated fairy stories with strong environmentalist themes.

 

[Norlandda]

You must be registered to see images.

In collaboration with:
Royal Arts Institute of Norlanda​

FEATURE TITLE :
Whispers of Shaylan (Feature Film)

You must be registered to see images.

​

FEATURE DIRECTOR :

You must be registered to see images.

Eiran Valeth
A Norlandi director known for his slow-paced style, naturalistic cinematography, and psychological drama.

​

FEATURE CAST :

You must be registered to see images.

FEATURE DESCRIPTION:

On the isolated northern coast of Shaylan Sea, in the fishing village of Aethmere, thirty-four-year-old Maelin Thorne returns home after nearly fifteen years in Norska following the disappearance of her father, a fisherman lost during the winter storms of 2008.
As the village prepares for the darkest winter in decades, Maelin discovers a collection of journals hidden inside the abandoned lighthouse overlooking the cliffs. The writings suggest that the men lost at sea over the past generations may not have vanished by accident, but were tied to an old coastal ritual long denied by the modern authorities and forgotten by most younger Norlanders.
Haunted by insomnia, recurring dreams of the sea, and growing tensions between the village elders and a foreign energy company planning to industrialize the shoreline, Maelin becomes increasingly obsessed with uncovering what truly happened to her father.
Rather than focusing on mystery alone, Whispers of Shaylan portrays the slow erosion of memory, the loneliness of northern coastal life, and the struggle between modern progress and the spiritual traditions that once shaped the identity of the Shaylor people.
Shot entirely on location along the northern coast of Norlanda, the film is noted for its natural lighting, minimal dialogue, and atmospheric sound design dominated by wind, waves, and silence.

 

[Serbovia]

Submissions by the Serbovian Film Association

FEATURE TITLE
Crniljevo - The Three Brothers (Crniljevo - Tri Brata) (Feature Film)

FEATURE DIRECTOR
Teo Sreckovic (a veteran director known for his historical epics and filmatizations of famous Serbovian novels)

FEATURE CAST
Slavomir Dimitrovic (Branislav), Dragan Simic (Predrag), Branko Miletic (Boza)

FEATURE DESCRIPTION:
Veteran director Teo Sreckovic takes on the Crniljevo series of beloved Serbovian novels, written by famed writer Stanislav Tomic between 1972 and 1985. Hailed as one of the most vivid and down-to-earth depictions of Serbovian rural life during the formative years of modern Serbovia, the Crniljevo novels depict the lives and fates of the Rajkovic family between 1892 and 1953, starting from the last decades of the Serbovian monarchy up until the eve of the National Restoration War. The movie series is planned to be made up of three installments, each corresponding to a single novel of the book trilogy. Three Brothers starts in 1892 when the brothers Branislav, Predrag and Boza inherit their father's farm in the rural town of Crniljevo. Numerous notable Serbovian historians have collaborated with the film makers to make sure that the films' depiction of the era is historically accurate and true to life.


FEATURE TITLE
Phantom in the Husk - The Heist (Fantom u ljusci - Pljačka) (Animated film)

FEATURE DIRECTOR
Misko Tomic (one of Serbovia's few directors of animated series and films)

FEATURE CAST
Darinka Markovic (voice of Major Monika Kuzmanovic), Desimir Pesic (voice of Velimir Borisov)

FEATURE DESCRIPTION:
Phantom in the Husk - The Heist follows up on the first season of the highly successful, Touyouan-style animation Phantom in the Husk, which depicted the work of the cybernetically enhanced agents of State Security Section 9 in a near-future, cyberpunk-styled Novigrad. This time, Major Monika Kuzmanovic and her team of operatives is tasked with investigating the mysterious death of a corporate tycoon, which seems to be tied with a robbery gone wrong that targeted a secret, high-tech biochip being developed by Arsenovic Corporation, a major Serbovian conglomerate. The movie adaptation continues with its predecessor series' stunning visuals, imaginative depictions of a cyberpunk future and the city of Novigrad as well as intense, high-stakes action sequences.

 

[Elfríki]

Submissions by the Cinematic Association of Elfríki

FEATURE TITLE
Hamur (Feature Film)

You must be registered to see images.

FEATURE DIRECTOR
Jakob Skakanef (award-winning blockbuster director)

You must be registered to see images.

FEATURE CAST

You must be registered to see images.

FEATURE DESCRIPTION:

You must be registered to see images.

 

[Elfríki]

Submissions by the Cinematic Association of Elfríki

FEATURE TITLE
Aquila Down (Aquila Hrapaður, Feature Film)

You must be registered to see images.

FEATURE DIRECTOR
Eskil Skarpvitur (award-winning historical troll director)

You must be registered to see images.

FEATURE CAST

You must be registered to see images.

FEATURE DESCRIPTION:

You must be registered to see images.

 

[Elfríki]

Submissions by the Cinematic Association of Elfríki

FEATURE TITLE
Ginnungagap Quest (Ginnungagapsför, Animated Film)

You must be registered to see images.

FEATURE DIRECTOR
Mörður Fjöðubleki (RPG writer turned voice actor/director)

You must be registered to see images.

FEATURE CAST

You must be registered to see images.

FEATURE DESCRIPTION:

You must be registered to see images.

 

[Spasciria]

FEATURE TITLE
On the Road with The Premier (Documentary)

FEATURE DIRECTOR
Lavr Buhinov (Defence Deputy)

FEATURE CAST
VichyCha Aldewaiss (Premier of Spasciria)

FEATURE DESCRIPTION:

Directed by the Defence Office, spearheaded by its Deputy Lavr Buhinov, famed childrens' books writer, On the Road with The Premier is a 5 part documentary detailing the day by day affairs of government. Displaying exclusive insights into economic, social, and political meetings, the documentary engages the audience by removing the pageantry of government and replacing it with the reality of working public life. Critically, the film presents the crisis of goverment in a time of martial law where the Premier must act swiftly to bring stability back to a strongly disgruntled society angered by alleged goverment corruption. What the film does not cover is the crisis is yet over. ​

 

[Pelasgia]

Submissions by the Pelasgian Academy of Cinematography (PAK)

You must be registered to see images.

(Painting by Tilemachos Kyriazatis)

FEATURE TITLE
Î Lamarína (The Metal Sheet)
Ἡ Λαμαρίνα

FEATURE DIRECTOR
Basileios Manakis

FEATURE CAST
Aias Konstanteas, Georgios Goeros, Markos Rhomanopoulos, Nephele Makrinou

FEATURE DESCRIPTION:

The crew of modern commercial cargo ship, known in Pelasgian naval slang as lamarina or "metal sheet" after its hull, try to survive on the high seas. Each member of the crew carries with him the pain and desperation that forced him to seek a life away from home on the high seas, while attempting to fit in with the macho culture of mariners. Nikolas (Aias Konstanteas), the first mate, leads the cast, serving as an officer under a false name, to disguise his origins from a disgraced shipping clan driven to bankruptcy by his father, while ironically working on a ship owned by one of the creditors who ruined his family. In his quest to restore his family's name, he is joined by Chrysanthos (Georgios Goeros), the ship's radioman and a highly educated and intellectural graduate of the Great School of the Nation (Pelasgia's most prestigious prep school), who fled a life of fortune in disgrace when he revealed his homosexuality to his conservative, Patrician family. The duo is often supported by the ship's cook, Papadakis (Markos Rhomanopoulos), who was driven from home after being accused of murdering his wife (Nephele Makrinou) over her alleged infidelity--neither he, nor anyone else, seems to be sure whether he actually did the deed, or whether she was in fact unfaithful, as the charismatic man oscilates between manic depression and near-delusional hopes of being vindicated. The ship itself gradually becomes a character in its own right, its unexpected faults and surprising endurance seeming almost mythical at times, as it intervenes to either help its crew or to sink them deeper into the depths of despair, almost as if it has a mind of its own.​

***​

You must be registered to see images.

(Painting by Simon Galstyan)

FEATURE TITLE
Taxídi stín Argyroúpoli (Journey to Argyroupolis)
Ταξίδι στὴν Ἀργυρούπολη

FEATURE DIRECTOR
Angelos Theodoropoulos

FEATURE CAST
Sappho Alexiou, Nephele Makrinou, Panagiotis Kanakaris

FEATURE DESCRIPTION
Twenty years after the Battle of Argyroupolis and the suppression of the short-lived, self-proclaimed Haydian Republic in southern Pelasgia by the Pelasgian nationalists, two sisters removed from their home by government troops and raised in a government-run orphanage decide to return to their hometown just outside the major port city. Having been reared on the story that their families were killed by Haydian rebels, the two women discover that they, in fact, were the children of Haydian farmers extrajudicially killed by government-backed militias. When they meet their last remaining relative in the town, a half-mad elderly uncle, they realise that they can partly understand his language, but they cannot respond. In their quest to track down more children like themselves, they face the hostility of the town's residents, many from other ethnic groups brought in from across the Empire to repopulate the region after the conflict--particularly the local prefect, retired military officer Pavlos Strategopoulos, who took part in the town's pacification decades prior, and wishes for the official story to remain intact.
​

***​

You must be registered to see images.

FEATURE TITLE
Mía érîmos en onómati "Eirînî" (A desert called "Peace") (Documentary)
Μία ἔρημος ἐν ὀνόματι «Εἰρήνη»

FEATURE DIRECTOR
Raphail Politis

FEATURE CAST
Raphail Politis, Odysseus Phrancopoulos

FEATURE DESCRIPTION

Renowned contrarian academic and historian Raphail Politis of Phrancoudeion University in Propontis explores the history of Pelasgian foreign interventions since the latter half of the 20th century, focusing in particular on his country's military operation in Pannonia, its joint administration of the Holy Land, and its role in the Matambaland conflict. Contrasting the statements and narratives of Pelasgian public officials with the actual reality of these war-torn areas, as told by locals and retired Pelasgian soldiers and diplomats themselves, Politis paints the picture that, while Propontis may have indeed aided in arresting unnecessary bloodshed, its decision to enter and remain in these territories may have less to do with pure humanitarian concerns, and more with long-standing foreign policy planning and objectives--often with economic, strategic or religious undertones.​

 

[Natal]

You must be registered to see images.

Harton International Film Festival​

With the Festival starting, this is the list of nominees for the prizes that will be offered on June 7th, the last day of the festival. The movies present will be offered their premieres to the larger public in prestige Natalian cinemas the week after.​

Best Actor

• Seamus Holt
• Paul Ashford
• Joe Hunt
• Thomas Wick
• Hossein Viseri
• Reza Tarokh
• Kael Orrin
• Soren Halvik
• Slavomir Dimitrovic
• Dragan Simic
• Branko Miletic
• Geirmundur ""Yfirthjonn" Bjartson
• Magnus "Isulfur" Haldorson
• Folco "Saltalto" Cirolli
• Osvaldo "Spezzacollo" Gregoretti
• Trofim "Yarkaya-Zorka" Kovalev
• Salvatore "Sabia-Rappa" Lentini
• Aias Konstanteas
• Georgios Goeros
• Markos Rhomanopoulos
• Panagiotis Kanakaris

Best Actress

• Cara Thomas
• Brigid Orr
• Leilana Farahani
• Liora Edevane
• Elira Voss
• Katarina "Thunderhouse" Zvereva
• Barbara "Sharptooth" Rugiero
• Nephele Makrinou
• Sappho Alexiou

Best Director

• Callum Beasley
• Niamh Calloway
• David Watson
• Kambiz Shariati
• Naghme Mousavi
• Noureddin Sadeghi
• Hilola Satrapi
• Eiran Valeth
• Teo Sreckovic
• Misko Tomic
• Jakob Sakakanef
• Eskil Skarpvitur
• Mordur Fjodubleki
• Lavr Buhinov
• Basileios Manakis
• Angelos Theodoropoulos
• Raphail Politis

Golden Pine Award (Best Feature Film)

• Black River Road
• Under the Pomegranate Tree
• Whispers of Shaylan
• Crniljevo - The Three Brothers
• Hamur
• Aquila Down
• The Metal Sheet
• Journey to Argyroupolis

Best Documentary

• Sealight
• Becoming the Iron Sardar
• On the Road with The Premier
• A desert called "Peace"

Best Short Film

• Last Tide

Special Prize (offered to films not falling in any of the three main categories)

• Arasha of the Swift Arrows
• Phantom in the Husk - The Heist
• Ginnungagap Quest

 

[Natal]

You must be registered to see images.

​

Harton International Film Festival​

• Best actor: REZA TAROKH for the role of the Investigator, in Under the Pomegranate Tree (Talashan);
• Best Actress: Brigid Orr for the role of Mary Wick, in The Last Tide (Natal);
• Best Director: Lavr Buhinov, with On the Road with the Premier (Spasciria);
• Golden Pine Award for the best feature film: CRNILJEVO - The Three Brothers (Serbovia)
• Best Documentary: On the Road with the Premier (Spasciria);
• Best Short: Last Tide (Natal);
• Special Award: PHANTOM IN THE HUSK — THE HEIST (Serbovia);