Category:Children--2020s (film subject)

Children--2020s (film subject)

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Il bambino nascosto (2021)
Il treno dei bambini (2024)

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2020s

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2020

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January 26, 2020 (Sundance Film Festival World Premiere) / February 12, 2021 (US Theatrical Release) -- Minari (Lee Isaac Chung), film -- Alan Kim -- A deeply moving, universally acclaimed semi-autobiographical drama that won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. Seven-year-old newcomer Alan Kim delivers an astonishingly natural, witty, and heartbreaking breakout performance as David Yi, a young Korean-American boy with a heart condition navigating his family’s grueling struggle to establish a farm in rural Arkansas. Kim completely dominates the emotional architecture of the film; his bittersweet, adversarial, and deeply profound relationship with his eccentric grandmother (Oscar-winner Youn Yuh-jung) serves as the literal core of the plot, grounding a complex immigrant survival story in the pure innocence and resilience of a child.

September 10, 2020 (Venice Film Festival World Premiere) / January 22, 2021 (UK Limited Release) -- Nowhere Special (Uberto Pasolini), film -- Daniel Lamont -- A devastating, quiet, and profoundly realistic British drama inspired by true events. Four-year-old Daniel Lamont gives a performance of staggering, quiet composure and emotional depth as Michael. The entire plot rests squarely on his small shoulders: he portrays a young boy whose single father, a 35-year-old window cleaner diagnosed with terminal cancer, spends his final months desperately trying to find the perfect adoptive family for him. Lamont's extraordinary spontaneity and heartbreakingly subtle interactions with his father create an indispensable moral mirror, transforming an ordinary domestic routine into a monumental exploration of parental devotion and creeping childhood awareness of loss.

Nov 06, 2020 -- The Life Ahead (Ponti), film -- Ibrahima Gueye & Sophia Loren -- A poignant and gritty contemporary drama streaming on Netflix shot entirely in the seaside city of Bari. Twelve-year-old newcomer Ibrahima Gueye delivers a masterclass breakout performance as Momo, a cynical Senegalese orphan who forms an unlikely, deeply moving intergenerational bond after being taken in by a fierce Holocaust survivor.

Dec 25, 2020 -- Soul (Docter & Powers), film -- None -- A critically adored, Oscar-winning animated masterpiece that explores the deep existential meaning of life, passion, and human connection. Although it features a middle-aged protagonist and contains no primary child actors, the narrative revolves heavily around a cynical, unborn soul named 22 who must experience the simple joys of a child's sensory world on Earth to find her purpose.

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2021

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February 11, 2021 (Berlin International Film Festival Premiere) / September 1, 2021 (France Wide Release) -- What Do We See When We Look at the Sky? / Ras khedavt, rodesac cas vukurebt? (Koberidze), film -- Vakhtang Fanchulidze -- A sublime, critically adored Georgian magical-realist romance that explores fate and urban poetry in the city of Kutaisi. While the overarching plot follows two young adults hit by a curse that changes their appearances, the absolute narrative anchor, visual charm, and structural progress of the story shift heavily to young Vakhtang Fanchulidze. His incredibly natural, observant, and spontaneous screen presence acts as an indispensable moral mirror to the city's modern evolution, grounding the bizarre supernatural curse in the pure, unforced curiosity of childhood innocence.

Jun 02, 2021 -- Petite Maman (Sciamma), film -- Joséphine Sanz & Gabrielle Sanz -- A magical, exquisitely gentle fantasy drama that relies entirely on its spectacular young leads. Real-life identical twin sisters Joséphine and Gabrielle Sanz deliver highly naturalistic, deeply touching performances as an eight-year-old girl mourning her grandmother who ventures into the woods and strikes up a friendship with a mysterious peer who turns out to be her own mother as a young child.

September 02, 2021 (Telluride Film Festival World Premiere) / November 12, 1991 (UK Wide Release) / January 21, 2022 (US Wide Release) -- Belfast (Branagh), film -- Jude Hill -- A sweeping, multi-award-winning semi-autobiographical comedy-drama that won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. Ten-year-old newcomer Jude Hill delivers a tour-de-force, incandescent performance starring as Buddy, a high-spirited boy growing up amidst the violent socio-political chaos of The Troubles in 1969 Northern Ireland. Hill completely carries the emotional and narrative architecture of the entire film; his wide-eyed, innocent, and deeply moving perspective filters the terrifying street riots, family financial hardships, and creeping domestic trauma into a beautiful, life-affirming celebration of family loyalty, childhood infatuation, and the magic of the movies.

Sep 02, 2021 -- C'mon C'mon (Mills), film -- Woody Norman -- A tender, humanist drama shot in exquisite black-and-white. Eleven-year-old British child actor Woody Norman delivers a brilliant, highly acclaimed breakout performance as Jesse, an energetic, emotionally intelligent boy who forms a transformative intergenerational bond with his radio journalist uncle during a cross-country trip across America.

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2022

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Feb 11, 2022 -- The Quiet Girl (Bairéad), film -- Catherine Clinch -- A critically revered coming-of-age drama that made history as the first Irish-language film nominated for an Academy Award. Newcomer Catherine Clinch gives a spellbinding, deeply moving performance as Cáit, a quiet, neglected nine-year-old girl who opens up and beautifully blossoms when she is sent to live with loving foster parents for a summer in rural Ireland.

May 19, 2022 (Cannes Film Festival World Premiere) / October 28, 2022 (US Wide Release) -- Armageddon Time (James Gray), film -- Banks Repeta & Jaylin Webb -- A deeply personal, nuanced, and atmospheric coming-of-age period drama set in 1980s Queens, New York. Thirteen-year-old Banks Repeta delivers a masterclass, front-and-center performance as Paul Graff, an artistic and rebellious Jewish-American sixth grader navigating the complex structures of family pressure, systemic privilege, and changing social rules. Alongside a brilliant young Jaylin Webb as his marginalized best friend Johnny, Repeta beautifully carries the entire moral weight of the narrative, transforming a schoolboy friendship into an indispensable and heartbreaking lens on American class conflict and the painful loss of childhood innocence.

May 21, 2022 -- Aftersun (Wells), film -- Frankie Corio -- A melancholic, masterfully crafted indie drama celebrated as one of the best films of the decade. Ten-year-old Frankie Corio delivers a luminous and naturalistic performance as Sophie, a sharp eleven-year-old girl enjoying a rare, sun-washed vacation at a Turkish resort with her loving father while entirely unaware of his secret, heavy emotional struggles with depression.

Oct 05, 2022 -- Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical (Warchus), film -- Alisha Weir -- A high-energy, vibrant cinematic adaptation of the Tony and Olivier Award-winning stage musical. Twelve-year-old Alisha Weir delivers a tour-de-force performance as the telekinetic child prodigy Matilda Wormwood, leading a fiercely talented young ensemble cast in a triumphant musical revolution against their tyrannical school principal.

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2023

May 17, 2023 (Cannes Film Festival World Premiere) / June 2, 2023 (Japan Wide Release) -- Monster / Kaibutsu (Kore-eda), film -- Sōya Kurokawa & Hinata Hiiragi -- A deeply empathetic, masterful, and critically adored Japanese non-linear drama that won the Queer Palm and Best Screenplay at the Cannes Film Festival. Eleven-year-old Sōya Kurokawa (Minato) and eleven-year-old Hinata Hiiragi (Yori) deliver two astonishingly subtle, raw, and devastatingly mature performances as two elementary school classmates dealing with identity, bullying, and confusion. Their profound and innocent brotherly chemistry anchors the final, definitive perspective of a Rashomon-style narrative puzzle, carrying the entire moral and emotional weight of a film that explores how heavily adult misconceptions can crush the delicate world of children.

August 25, 2023 (UK Wide Release) -- Scrapper (Regan), film -- Lola Campbell -- A vibrant, witty, and deeply moving British independent comedy-drama that won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Twelve-year-old newcomer Lola Campbell delivers a tour-de-force, fiercely charismatic, and scene-stealing performance starring as Georgie, a fiercely resourceful working-class girl who secretly lives entirely alone in her London flat after her mother's death. Campbell completely carries the structural architecture of the narrative; her perfect comedic timing and deep emotional vulnerability serve as the absolute engine of the plot when she is forced to confront reality upon the sudden arrival of her estranged father (Harris Dickinson), turning the film into a masterclass on childhood grief and resilience.

September 03, 2023 (Telluride Film Festival Premiere) / June 21, 2024 (US Wide Release) -- Janet Planet (Annie Baker), film -- Zoe Ziegler -- A mesmerizing, quiet, and hyper-realistic American independent coming-of-age drama that acts as a sublime masterclass in child observation. Eleven-year-old newcomer Zoe Ziegler delivers a spellbinding, highly grounded, and extraordinarily perceptive screen debut as Lacy, a deeply observant, clingy, and idiosyncratic girl spending the summer of 1991 in rural Western Massachusetts. Ziegler dominates nearly every single frame of the film, serving as an indispensable quiet mirror to the chaotic romantic and social lives of her magnetic, single mother (Julianne Nicholson); her intense silence and intense childlike scrutiny make her the absolute narrative lens through which adult vanities are beautifully exposed.

2024

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January 21, 2024 (Sundance Film Festival World Premiere) / May 17, 2024 (US Wide Release) -- I Saw the TV Glow (Jane Schoenbrun), film -- Ian Foreman -- A deeply haunting, surreal, and critically acclaimed psychological drama that explores identity, media obsession, and existential dread. Ten-year-old actor Ian Foreman delivers a remarkably vulnerable, quiet, and deeply poignant performance as the young Owen during the film's entire foundational first act in 1996. Foreman's natural acting and expressive gaze carry the absolute narrative weight of the movie's setup; his introduction to a bizarre, late-night supernatural television show by an older student serves as the indispensable catalyst for the entire plot, perfectly capturing the eerie confusion and intense isolation of a child trying to make sense of a world that feels fundamentally wrong.

Oct 20, 2024 -- The Children's Train (Comencini), film -- Christian Cervone -- A sweeping, emotionally gripping historical drama streaming on Netflix that explores Italy's post-WWII "Happiness Trains" initiative. Newcomer Christian Cervone gives a brilliant performance as Amerigo, a seven-year-old boy sent from the severe poverty of Naples to live with a host family in the north, sparking a bittersweet journey of musical self-discovery and identity.

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2025

May 16, 2025 (Iraq Wide Release) -- The President's Cake (Hadi), film -- Baneen Ahmad Nayyef & Sajad Mohamad Qasem -- A critically acclaimed, bittersweet magic-realist fable and neorealist masterpiece selected as the Iraqi entry for the 98th Academy Awards. Nine-year-old Baneen Ahmad Nayyef delivers an extraordinarily brilliant, evocative, and poignant breakout performance as Lamia, a young girl living in 1990s sanctioned Iraq who is selected by a mandatory school lottery to bake a birthday cake for dictator Saddam Hussein. Facing an extreme scarcity of basic ingredients, her perilous journey to the city alongside a young boy named Saeed (Sajad Mohamad Qasem) completely dominates the narrative architecture, framing a landscape of authoritarian fear through the deeply touching and resilient innocence of childhood.

2026

January 2026 (Sundance Film Festival World Premiere) -- Josephine (de Araújo), film -- Mason Reeves -- A masterful, deeply empathetic, and hyper-realistic psychological drama that explores the profound ripple effects of childhood trauma. Eight-year-old newcomer Mason Reeves delivers a tour-de-force, hauntingly quiet, and emotionally complex performance as the titular protagonist, Josephine, a young girl who witnesses a brutal assault in Golden Gate Park while running with her father. Reeves carries the entire psychological weight and narrative lens of the film, masterfully portraying a child's fragmented coping mechanisms and creeping confrontation with severe adult situations as she is forced to testify in court, making her presence completely indispensable to the plot.