Pick of the Month – April: Amazing Things Happen by Alex Amelines

Amazing Things Happen by Alex Amelines

Introduction to autism that aims to raise awareness among young non-autistic audiences, to stimulate understanding and tolerance in future generations.

It underlines that autistic people aren neither ill nor broken; neither stupid nor geniuses. They are ordinary people with an extraordinary way of perceiving the world.

Directors Notes

I worked on my spare time for the past year and a half to complete this personal project. All professionals involved contributed to the film pro- bono.

After talking with the SENCO at my child’s school, it became clear that there was a lack of engaging visual material about autism for children, which is a shame because it seems the perfect stage to plant the seeds of tolerance and understanding for later life. That’s what drove me to make this animation.

I wanted to create something that would really engage children and help them to see things from another’s perspective. Something that could equally be used at school, as part of homework, within families or as a tool for children who want to share their diagnosis with their peers.

There’s so much to say about autism it was a challenge to condense the essence of it into 5 minutes, but I hope that it serves as an introduction to the subject. Furthermore I hope it serves as a springboard to expand it into a series so children can explore the topic in more depth, focusing on those issues that families touched by autism would like the world to know about.