150 Indigenous Kids Co-Created Film With Taika Waititi

A teenager doomscrolling in their bedroom gets whisked away by a green alien dog to ride a giant platypus alongside the Rainbow Serpent and zombie Taika Waititi. This isn't a fever dream—it's the plot of Imagine, an animated film co-created by 150 Indigenous kids who decided to write their own story.

When the pandemic locked down the world, Jack Manning Bancroft and the Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience (AIME) saw an opportunity. The kids they worked with were hungry to create something Hollywood didn't control, something that reflected their voices and wisdom.

It started with a Google Doc. At the top, someone typed the word "Imagine." From there, students from 18 schools across Australia jumped in to shape this wild odyssey that weaves Indigenous knowledge systems with animation.

The film features voices from across generations and continents. Bangarra Dance Theatre choreographer Yolande Brown plays the lead role of Kim, a non-binary teen overwhelmed by the world's noise. Next Goal Wins director Taika Waititi appears in zombie form, sharing wisdom from found audio of his podcast interviews. Even Olympic swimmer Ian Thorpe lends his voice to a character called Thorpe-Flea-Do.

Co-director Tyson Yunkaporta, author of Sand Talk, wanted to connect dots between Indigenous wisdom keepers worldwide. Through his podcast The Other Others, he'd interviewed hundreds of knowledge holders whose insights never quite connected into a movement. Imagine became that connection point.

The production had zero budget. Everyone who contributed did so because they wanted to help tell this story. Orange Is the New Black star Yael Stone jumped in. Wesley Enoch contributed. Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull added his voice. Nelson Mandela's granddaughter Ndileka Mandela joined the cast. In total, more than 400 people collaborated.

Mark Grentell and his Māori colleague Rick from Vizion Studios took on the animation without institutional funding. They were inspired by The Midnight Gospel's approach of animating podcast conversations. Together, they found ways to keep the story moving when money couldn't.

The Ripple Effect

The film releases on January 26, a contentious date in Australia. Manning Bancroft sees this as rewriting the narrative on a day that's often painful for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Ten years ago, AIME helped move triple j's Hottest 100 music countdown off January 26. But Manning Bancroft knows moving dates alone doesn't fix systemic problems. The real question is bigger: What do we imagine for this nation?

Yunkaporta believes laughter is learning. Every joke creates new neural connections by bringing together ideas that didn't exist in your brain before. Imagine embraces chaos and finds ways through it by making those connections visible and joyful.

The film proves that when you give kids the tools and trust them with the story, they'll create something that connects knowledge holders across oceans and generations. They'll ride giant platypuses with alien dogs if that's what it takes to share wisdom worth preserving.