The program is part of the geography, civics and citizenship school curriculum and aims to promote intercultural awareness through the process of filmmaking.
About 700 children took part in the program to produce - from start to finish - over 100 short films on this year's theme of family, covering issues including family migration, domestic violence and alcohol abuse.
"The children have really interpreted their world, so they’ve created really rich stories that depict circumstances, but they also depict cultural beliefs in their own communities," says project co-ordinator Kelly Royds at international aid agency ChildFund.
The selection was then whittled down to 12 finalist films after kids voted in each country for their favourites.
The films have been translated into nine different languages and are being screened in countries including Vietnam, Laos and Timor-Leste.
The program, which is jointly funded by ChildFund and AusAid, is now in its fourth year.
Ms Royds says the program is having a significant impact on the mostly rural communities that take part.
"What I’ve been finding is [in Timor Leste] that for them, the kind of opportunity to talk, to ask questions to lead their own learning has been probably the most important part of the program."
For Melbourne student Rayat, the highlight of the program was seeing the finished product of his peers at the film screening.
"It was really fun - watching all the different languages, and watching all the other kids from around the world that we can interact with," he says.
And he says for all the differences between the kids in Melbourne and the rural communities of Laos and Vietnam, there were commonalities that crossed the language barrier.
"Sometimes you see Asian kids or even Australian kids, you find their parents have some kind of connection with how parents act in other countries."
Listen: Full interview with Kelly Royds
But it's not only across countries that cultural connections are being made.
Kelly Royds says cultural exchanges are also taking place in Australia, between rural and urban towns and cities.
The program also involves Indigenous students from remote communities in the Northern Territory.
"Up in the Top End in the Arnhem Land community we work in, this is such an interesting program because often times these kids they have such rich, cultural and oral traditions that sometimes they’re not always brought into the school in a visual way."
"What was really interesting last year was a group of Indigenous students up there recreated the Dreamtime story of their island. And that story would go back 40,000-odd years for all I know. And it was captured in film, and it was captured on the island. And I thought what a lovely thing that the community can now keep and show.
"What I’ve noticed is that the films there have a really long life. And they're screened at the community centre on repeat because they’re capturing things about children’s lives and also about the culture of the island, and the culture of the community.
"I guess what is interesting up there is how teachers have latched onto the film as a way to encourage literacy learning and speaking skill tasks. And also, of course, for them, for a lot of kids up there, and for a lot our kids in New South Wales, learning about a remote Arnhem land community is a cultural exchange in itself. So there are a lot of opportunities to connect within countries as well as beyond countries."
