IndieJúnior Porto — International Children’s and Youth Film Festival 2027

About IndieJúnior Porto

IndieJúnior Porto is an international festival created for children and young audiences. Since 2017, it has brought films from different countries to audiences in Porto through screenings shaped for early childhood, school-age viewers and teenagers.

Its focus is audience experience. Fiction, animation, documentary and experimental films are programmed according to how they speak to different stages of childhood and adolescence, giving filmmakers a clear context for work made for younger viewers.

IndieJúnior Porto Film Categories and Audience Age Groups

The International Competition is open to filmmakers from around the world; the current regulations do not set a youth-age requirement for the filmmaker. A film can therefore be made by an adult creator and still be a strong fit when its story, tone and cinematic language connect clearly with children or teenage audiences.

IndieJúnior builds its programme across age and school stages, from pre-school through secondary school. For filmmakers, this makes audience positioning especially important: the film should have a clear sense of the viewing age and school context it is speaking to.

Children and Youth Participation at IndieJúnior Porto

Young audiences participate beyond watching the films. They vote in audience awards, take part in jury activities and can engage with programming through initiatives that introduce students to film selection and curation.

IndieJúnior Porto 2027 Dates, Deadline and Short-Film Rules

The 11th IndieJúnior Porto takes place from 25 to 31 January 2027. The final submission deadline is 30 September 2026.

The International Competition accepts fiction, animation, documentary and experimental short films up to 45 minutes, produced in 2025, 2026 or 2027. Films with dialogue in languages other than English should include English subtitles in the submission screener. Rough cuts and works in progress can be identified during submission.

The current edition lists an Impact Award of €1,000 and an Audience Award of €300.

Selected Film Delivery Requirements

If selected, filmmakers are asked to provide a dialogue list with time codes, film stills, a director headshot, credits, technical specifications and/or EPK, exhibition authorisation, and a trailer and/or excerpts. The exhibition copy is due by 2 January 2027 in the requested format, preferably without subtitles.

After selection, the film may not have another public screening in Portugal before its IndieJúnior presentation, and an accepted selection cannot be withdrawn. Audience fit therefore matters not only editorially but also in planning the film’s wider festival and screening route.

Positioning a Film for IndieJúnior Porto

For films made for children or teenage audiences, AD1 FILM can review the intended viewing age, category fit, subtitle readiness and presentation materials, then assess IndieJúnior within the film’s wider children’s and youth-festival strategy. The central question is not the filmmaker’s age, but whether the completed film has a convincing relationship with the audience it is meant to reach.