During World War II, a French Jewish family is deported to Auschwitz. On the train to the concentration camp, the father, desperate for any chance to save her life, throws one of his twins out into the snow, where she’s discovered by a childless Polish couple, known only as the Woodcutter and the Woodcutter’s Wife. Seeing the baby as a divine gift, the wife decides to raise her, despite her husband’s initial resistance and the pervasive antisemitism of the time. A departure for director Michel Hazanavicius, who is best known for the Oscar-winning The Artist (2011) and the amiable zombie-movie pastiche Final Cut (2022), The Most Precious of Cargoes is a heartfelt, moving and, at least stylistically, a proudly old-fashioned animated adaptation of Jean-Claude Grumberg’s 2019 book.

There will be Open Captioned screenings at 18.30 on Monday 7th, and at 13.00 on Thursday 10th.

Notes by David O’Mahony.