29/04/2024 - Sander Maran’s feature debut has been named Best Estonian Genre Film, while the short Wander to Wonder was also rewarded at the Estonian genre festival

HÕFF festival and programme director Helmut Jänes (right), and Chainsaws Were Singing director Sander Maran and producer Kaur Maran during the closing ceremony

Talk about spooky: Sander Maran’s feature debut, Chainsaws Were Singing [+see also:
interview: Sander Maran
film profile] – previously selected as the opening film of this year’s Haapsalu Horror and Fantasy Film Festival (HÕFF) – was named Best Estonian Genre Film on Sunday. It also picked up the Audience Award.

“This year, chainsaws in Haapsalu were particularly loud, as genre cinema is gaining popularity,” festival and programme director Helmut Jänes told Cineuropa (see the interview), calling Maran’s film “an expression of youthful joy and good humour, but also of the filmmakers’ ability to hold the audience in their grip until the end. […] As expected, it matched HÕFF’s atmosphere perfectly, and we are also delighted that all side programmes also captured the audience’s attention.”

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

Produced by Kaur Maran, Sander Maran, Karl-Joosep Ilves and Jan Andresson, this musical horror-comedy – in the making for almost ten years – clearly delivered on its promises from the festival, which teased Maran’s creation as “a wild ride with inventive kills, a chainsaw solo, exploding cars, romance, cute animal attacks and even a supernatural bukkake fridge”. In short: it’s not for kids.

“I am speechless! It was an absolutely surreal and amazing feeling, having Chainsaws Were Singing finally flicker on the big screen and hearing the sort of thunderous, roaring laughter that I always wished it would cause,” said the director, thanking the festival. “I mean, actually getting applause after musical numbers was something I couldn’t even have dreamed of. Wow. I’ll always remember this blast of an energetic weekend and the amount of joy that was shared by the kick-ass audience and our team.”

The 19th edition of the event, which closed with a screening of Boy Kills World with Bill Skarsgård, also witnessed the triumph of Nina Grantz’s animated short Wander to Wonder. It won the Short Film Méliès d'Argent and was called “a daring mixture of comedy, tragedy and even horror” by the jurors.

“Meticulously crafted, yet still effortlessly chaotic, it carries an underlying creepiness that serves as a perfect background to the flawed humanness of the characters. The filmmaker managed to blend all of these elements, while still retaining an intimate scale.”

The “powerful and thought-provoking” sci-fi short Solstice-5 by Paul Chadeisson was given a Special Mention, with the Navigator Pirx Award for Best Sci-Fi Film going to Escape Attempt by Alex Topaller and Dan Shapiro.

In keeping with tradition, the festival also held a film-memorabilia charity auction for Ukraine, raising a record €5,325 and, it was stated, “calling on other film festivals to carry out similar actions”. Interestingly enough, a driving licence from Chainsaws Were Singing was sold for €600, along with the autographs of the cast. One of the titular chainsaws was previously auctioned at the opening ceremony.

Here is the full list of award winners:

Best Estonian Genre Film
Chainsaws Were Singing [+see also:
interview: Sander Maran
film profile] – Sander Maran (Estonia)

Audience Award
Chainsaws Were Singing – Sander Maran

Short Film Méliès d'Argent
Wander to Wonder - Nina Grantz (Netherlands/Belgium/France/UK, short)
Special Mention
Solstice-5 - Paul Chadeisson (France, short)

Navigator Pirx Award for Best Sci-Fi Film
Escape Attempt - Alex Topaller, Dan Shapiro (USA/Poland, short)