France, Luxembourg · 2022
In-person Q+A with director Benjamin Massoubre!
Over long cafe chats and bistro dinners in Paris, writer René Goscinny and artist Jean-Jacques Sempé solidified their warm friendship. The two shared more than meals, though, as they created the iconic French character of Little Nicolas, a mischievous school boy whose antics have captivated audiences for decades. Little Nicolas has been captured in comics, books and live-action film adaptations but he comes to life in a new way in Annecy’s Cristal Award-winning Little Nicolas Happy as Can Be. Nicholas leaps off the page and speaks directly to his creators to learn more about their own origin story. The film not only shows moments of Nicolas reveling in the misadventures of adolescence, but reveals the significant childhoods of the two artists and how it shaped their dreams, fears and ambitions. With a screenplay co-written by Rene’s daughter Anne Goscinny the film elegantly translates the magic of Sempe’s illustrations, transforming them into fluid, timeless animation.
