Little Nicholas, Happy As Can Be CFF

France, Luxembourg, 2022, 82 mins.

DIRECTOR: Amandine Fredon and Benjamin Massoubre

WITH: Alain Chabat, Laurent Lafitte, Simon Faliu

Immersing its audience in the playful delights of creativity, Little Nicholas brings to life one of the most iconic figures of French children’s literature, against a nostalgic backdrop of 1950s France. Winner of the Cristal Award for a Feature Film at the Annecy Festival, the film tells the story of the invention of cheeky schoolboy Nicholas and his classmates by writer René Goscinny and cartoonist Jean-Jacques Sempé. As their friendship and collaboration develop, the boundaries between their lives and their stories’ imaginary world are blurred. We watch each sketch take form, transporting us into Nicholas’s adventures. For fans of the original stories, the film perfectly captures their humorous atmosphere, cleverly translating Sempé’s drawings into animation. For those discovering the characters for the first time, this is the perfect introduction to their offbeat appeal and the chance to spend time with both creators and creations in a watercolour version of New Wave Paris.

The Cambridge Film Festival is presented by the Cambridge Film Trust, a registered charity with a mission to foster film culture and education for the benefit of the public, in Cambridge and the Eastern region but also throughout the UK.