About the festival

The Children's International Film Festival (CHIFF) brings a curated selection of international features, family short films and special events tailored to our youngest film buffs.

Catering for children aged 3 years and up, the festival's program ranges from non-verbal films for the miniature movie lover, through to a more challenging mix of foreign and English-language films from all over the world, perfect for older budding cinephiles.

The 2025 CHIFF program features 19 premiere films, handpicked from world-class film festivals all over the world. These films rarely get a release outside of their home countries, so CHIFF provides one of the only ways for families to catch them on the big screen in Australia.

After a successful launch in 2018, CHIFF returns for a seventh edition in June and July 2025, once again presenting a jam-packed line-up of carefully curated feature films from around the globe.

Artistic Director's Welcome

"Welcome to the 2025 edition of the Children’s International Film Festival!  

Last year, I had the great honour of being invited to sit on one of the juries at the SCHLiNGEL International Film Festival, a children’s film festival held annually in the German city of Chemnitz. While some of the films showing had previously screened here in Australia at CHIFF 2024, I also made plenty of new discoveries that I am excited to present to you this year. SCHLiNGEL is not the only festival I look to for inspiration. Giffoni in Italy, Amsterdam in the Netherlands and New York City are just some of the places where festivals dedicated to programming films for young children are held. However, here in Australia there is only one such festival, and it’s CHIFF!  

This year, we welcome festival favourites the Moomins and Ernest & Celestine back for more heartwarming tales. The Elfkins of Cologne and the pirates from the long-running Norwegian franchise Captain Sabertooth also return for more exciting adventures, as well as a whole host of new stories about cats, monkeys, penguins, bats, goats and tooth fairies, plus a new retelling of the classic Bambi story.  

I am particularly excited about our 40th anniversary screenings of Joe Dante’s Explorers and Tim Burton’s Pee-wee's Big Adventure. Both Dante and Burton are distinctive for being maverick directors who found success within the studio system, and both films are examples of how films made specifically with children in mind do not need to pander to adult audiences – films that are sincerely for children have universal appeal."

—Thomas Caldwell, Artistic Director

Festival team

Artistic Director Thomas Caldwell
Head of Festivals Paulette Arvizu
Content & Production Manager Bettina Kinski
Festival Coordinator Marc Repse
Design Ryan Beasley
Cover Illustration Anita Lester
Head of Marketing Jaymes Durante
Moving Story Marketing Candace Brereton, Rachel Bostock, Oliver John
Festival Trailer Malcolm Bloedel
Publicity Original Spin  
Web Development Chook
Materials & Conversion JORR

A special thank you to the Moving Story Entertainment team and the dedicated teams at Classic, Lido, Cameo and Ritz Cinemas, and to our film-loving community for their ongoing support and enthusiasm.

Terms and conditions:

CHIFF has received a classification excemption from the Australian Classification Board. Age recommendations for films are provided by the festival as guidelines, and specific information about language and themes are provided in the detailed description of each film. All assesments by CHIFF are subjective, and consideration by a parent or guardian is advised to asses whether a film is a good fit for your family.