Byron Film Festival schools program set to spark young minds

FROM a LEGO-filled tale of imagination and sibling love to a trans teen’s search for belonging, the 2025 Byron Bay International Film Festival’s schools program offers a rich selection of thought-provoking films designed to inspire and engage young audiences.

Running from Monday 20 October to Friday 24 October, the festival will screen films at venues across the region, including Palace Cinemas Byron Bay and Ballina, as well as the Drill Hall Theatre in Mullumbimby. The curated program features a diverse array of films for both primary and secondary school students.

Bangalow-based filmmaker Poppy Walker, whose award-winning documentary short Dust Devil has screened at film festivals across the globe, led the selection process — watching more than 100 films to handpick the very best for the program. The final lineup includes animation, live-action films and documentaries from the USA, Taiwan, Argentina, the Czech Republic and Australia.

“We look at the films from various perspectives, including the direction, cinematography, storytelling, originality and pacing,” she said. “The schools program of course needs to be age-appropriate, too. We try to include films from the world over, and for there to be a broad variety of genres, themes and stories. I always love a strong and distinctive voice.”

But narrowing down the selections was no easy task for the mother of two.

“There are so many excellent entries each year, and as a filmmaker I know how much work and heart goes into each and every one of them,” she said.

Among her favourites is the German animation Well Tempered Clavier, which is painted on toilet paper and set to the music of Bach, and the documentary A Body Called Life, which follows a young man’s passion for microscopic life.

“Like all the best films, it expands and transforms a view of the world – I felt so much awe and delight in his story,” she said.

She also holds a special admiration for The Tinsel Years.

“A young Australian filmmaker wrote and directed this brilliantly creative take on aloneness and identity,” she said. “I loved how distinctive the director’s vision and voice is. No one else could have explored this in the same way.”

Walker is passionate about the power of a shared cinematic experience, especially in the age of streaming and portable screens.

“Coming together to share stories through any medium is so inherently human, and it’s wonderful for kids and teens to experience cinematic stories from all over the world,” she said. “I think it’s important for kids and teens to be introduced to a variety of ways to tell a story, beyond the conventions of western cinema.”

Bookings for the program, which is supported by Byron Shire Council, must be made directly by each school by Friday September 26. For more information, email [email protected]