ACMI and Little Big Shots presents Little Big Shots 2018

ACMI and Little Big Shots presents Australia’s largest and longest running film festival curated especially for kids ages 2 to 15. Held over five days across the Queen’s Birthday long weekend, Little Big Shots runs from Wednesday 6 to Monday 11 June.

Bringing kids and families the very best films from around the world, this year’s festival boasts 126 films from 26 countries, including France, Belgium, Hungary, Czech Republic, France, Brazil, Argentina, US, UK and China. Inspiring a love of film in even the youngest of viewers, ACMI and Little Big Shots are enhancing the media literacy and creativity of the next generation with cinematic offerings spanning animation, live-action, comedy, drama and everything in between.

“Little Big Shots is an exciting and important moment in ACMI’s year-round family programming. We hope to welcome the next generation of young cinema lovers and filmmakers to ACMI and encourage them to become lifelong advocates for film culture.” says ACMI CEO and Director Katrina Sedgwick.

Festival Director, Ben Laden says "Little Big Shots 2018 is our biggest and brightest festival ever. Our program is jam-packed with award-winners, first-time filmmakers and films made by kids themselves. This year’s festival offers films the whole family will love and is guaranteed to bring lots of laughs, heartfelt stories and moments to make you think.”

Now in its fourteenth year, Little Big Shots is bringing audiences a super-sized program with over 120 Australian premieres, a dedicated French-language program, and an even bigger selection of films for teens. This year’s highlights also include festival mainstays like Best of the Fest, a program chosen by the Little Big Shots Kid’s Jury, and the Audience Award for Best Film as voted by parents and children. The festival kicks off with a special viewing of Magic Lights Pictures' Oscar nominated shorts Revolting Rhymes, based on the stories of Roald Dahl and starring Tamsin Greig (Shaun of the Dead), Dominic West (The Wire) and Rob Brydon (The Trip). 

Always a celebration of Australian talent, this year’s festival includes critically acclaimed coming-of-age story Mrs McCutcheon by John Sheedy and the kooky Superperson, created and animated by Philip Watts. Fans of the award winning Australian animation Dogstar will be treated with a feature-length viewing of Dogstar: Christmas in Space. 

In a festival-first showcase of 41 films made by children, Little Big Shots presents punchy comedy The Genie by Cabramatta Public School and stop-motion animation The Cosmospenguin in Sushiland by 10-year-old Austrian filmmaker Luca Potskhishvili. Follow the adventures of the NASA robot rovers in Days of Our Rovers created by 15-year-old American film-maker, author and anti-bullying advocate Gerry Orz.

Little Big Shots runs at ACMI between 6–11 June.