A talking worm, diaspora blues, and Christmas magic in 19 minutes? Believe it.
Set just days before Christmas, Big Worm is a story about a newly located Nigerian/Canadian family in Australia. The film is narrated by high school student Yemi, who in her teenage lamentation over Australia’s lack of “Christmas Spirit,” recounts mystical occurrences throughout her childhood.
Writing
Yemi's voiceover balances teenage snark with ancestral weight
Costume
Christmas in Australian heat, Nigerian fabrics, visual culture clash
Director
Shane Marshall
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The title references a Nigerian Pidgin proverb about respecting small things—a theme threaded through Yemi's mother's warnings and the film's magical realism.
Director Shane Marshall shot this in Perth during an actual heatwave, so the actors' sweaty discomfort is 100% authentic.
AU
