The SMART7 Competition returns to the 23rd edition of IndieLisboa with a new selection dedicated to emerging voices in European cinema. Created to discover and support filmmakers at the beginning of their careers, the initiative brings together seven film festivals from across Europe.
Each year, each festival selects a film from its country to be included in this curated selection. Throughout the year, seven films from seven different countries are included in the program of each of these festivals.
The first partner festival to kick off is Kino Pavasaris in Vilnius (Lithuania), followed by IndieLisboa (Portugal), FILMADRID (Spain), Transilvania IFF (Romania), BNP Paribas New Horizons IFF (Poland), Reykjavik IFF (Iceland), ending the tour at Thessaloniki IFF (Greece).
The jury is composed of university students from the seven partner countries. At the last festival of the year, the winning film will receive a prize of €5,000.
For this edition, the selected films were:
Óculos de Sol Pretos (Black Sunglasses), directed by Pedro Ramalhete. Portugal, 2025
A River’s Gaze (Malul vânăt), directed by Andreea Borțun. Romania, 2025
No Ghosts on Good Street (Nie ma duchów w mieszkaniu na Dobrej), directed by Emi Buchwald. Poland, 2025
Patty Is Such a Girly Name (Poly koritsistiko onoma to Patty), directed by Giorgos Georgopoulos. Greece, 2025
The Visitor (Svečias), directed by Vytautas Katkus. Lithuania, 2025
The Fires (Eldarnir), directed by Ugla Hauksdóttir. Iceland, 2025
The Dashed Lines (As Liñas Descontinuas), directed by Anxos Fazáns. Spain, 2025
In 2025, the award went to Portuguese-Cape Verdean director Denise Fernandes for her first feature film Hanami.
From April 30 to May 10, IndieLisboa will bring this competition to the city of Lisbon, where you can watch the seven entries from these seven European festivals.