“The Windermere Children,” a 2020 BBC production directed by Michael Samuels, focuses on children liberated from German concentration camps at the end of World War II, who were sent to a refuge in the town of Windermere in England’s Lake District.
This film is the stark, moving and ultimately redemptive story of the bonds these children make with one another, and of how the friendships forged become a lifeline to a fruitful future. Their journey began with uncertainty and fear in a new land, but eventually led to the triumph of hope, goodwill, lifelong friendship and happiness that they all cherished.
The film balances the tragedies these children had endured against the well-meaning but often shockingly clumsy and insensitive attempts of the professionals at the center to help them.
Under the benign patronage of the facility head, Oscar Friedmann, and his support staff — a female art teacher who encourages the children to express themselves in paint and a crusty old Scottish P.E. teacher keen to get a football team up to play the local boys — the children gradually come round to accepting that they have a reason to live and can go forward with their lives.
“The Windermere Children” ends poignantly, with the depicted youngsters’ real-life, now aged adult counterparts returning to the same spot over 70 years later with their own positive recollections of their time there.
With refugee crises in many parts of the world still an issue today, this film is a sympathetic, thought-provoking treatment of the subject.
As a new and added feature to the 2026 Ajijic Jewish Film Festival, there will be an opportunity for discussion and comment at the conclusion of each film during a talk-back session moderated by Canadian snowbird Rosalie Shapiro.
“The Windermere Children” (runtime: 1:29) will screen Sunday, January 11, at 1:30 p.m. at Cinema+Lago at Plaza Bugambilias in Ajijic. Tickets are available at the theater from 12:30 p.m. on the day of the performance.