Little Amélie

A nominee for Best Animated Feature at the 2026 Academy Awards, this tender animation is based on Amélie Nothomb's autobiographical novel. It follows young Amélie, a Belgian girl living in Japan in the late 1960s, who is drawn out of her shell by the taste of white chocolate and the warm guidance of the family housekeeper, Nishio-san — a relationship that gives her an intergenerational, multicultural grounding in simply being present.

Life is not without its complications: a menacing brother and a landlady harbouring deep wartime resentments sit alongside the quieter wonders of childhood. Every frame is said to capture both the inner awe of a small child and the overwhelming turmoil when the world becomes too much for a mere two-and-a-half-year-old.

Screened at The Civic, the film's big emotions — grief, joy, memory, fleeting innocence — are drawn with a lightness that should resonate with children and the adults sitting beside them.