As National Child Protection Week events continued around Australia on Wednesday, five young filmmakers travelled from the coast to the capital to showcase their new animated film, Protection.

Of course, there wasn't a real projector inside the tent or "cinema cubby"; a proper screening would come later. And the audience mostly consisted of cardboard cutouts, politicians and camera crews.

Nine-year-old Drew Brown offered up a private screening of the film on an iPad instead.

Protection tells the stories of 32 children, including Drew, who live mostly in public housing estates in the Illawarra.

One hundred children from the area took part in the project, shooting, directing and starring in the feature-length film over three years under the guidance of not-for-profit group Beyond Empathy.

The organisation uses art to build opportunities for young people living in disadvantaged places. In 2013, it produced the award-winning film Rites of Passage, which aired on the ABC and, in 2015 it crowd-funded more than $12,000 to film Protection.

Beyond Empathy now hopes to take the film on tour in schools and community halls across Australia, and Canberra is the first stop on the road.

On his second trip out of the Illawarra, 10-year-old Cooper Mangarelli laughed as his breath fogged in the air.

"Canberra is cold!" He said.

Cooper explained the film is designed as an education tool; its underage cast and crew will create more cubbies and put on more screenings in schools to spark conversations around resilience and respectful relationships.

Storylines range from an Aboriginal girl overcoming bullying in her dance class to a group of kids keeping landlords at bay to stop a friend from being evicted.

That story stars Drew, who pointed out some familiar faces on screen as he showed a clip of the film.

"He's my brother and there [are] my cousins," he said. "And Mervin, he lives in my neighbourhood."

In the story, Drew and his friends raise money around town to help Mervin pay rent, resorting to ever more ridiculous tactics to stop him finding out their plan, before slipping the cash into his wallet.

Drew said filming started with the things he and his friends like doing most - playing football and riding bikes. The film crew followed the boys around the housing estate and the story evolved from there.

For Beyond Empathy co-founder Phil Crawford, the project is proof children can be agents of change in their communities.

"I think kids are often seen and not heard but kids are capable of a lot," he said.

"The whole community got involved in this film because of these kids."

While Cooper loved filming the project ("My favourite part was eating a giant tub of ice-cream on camera"), he admitted it was more challenging than he expected.

"Holding the camera steady was probably the hardest bit," he said.

"And when they'd say 'just one take' and do 15."

Cooper said he hoped other children watching the film felt inspired to make their own.

Several politicians who popped their heads under the tent to take a peak at the film admitted feeling a little inspired themselves, including Labor MP and patron of Beyond Empathy Linda Burney.

Beyond Empathy's executive director Kim McConville described the organisation as small " but with big muscles". Working in several towns across NSW and Queensland, the team now hoped to go deeper into those communities, rather than expanding further.

Many of the children behind Rites of Passage are teenagers today, older siblings of the children starring in Protection and the new film's post-production editing crew. Emma, the group's photographer, is among them.

"Intergenerational disadvantage doesn't get solved in a three year funding cycle," Ms McConville said. "We want to keep building on those connections and following the stories of these kids.

"When people are put in charge of change, it really does happen, we've seen that in Illawarra."

Beyond Empathy now hopes to raise $15,000 to support the Australian tour of the film.