When an injured fugitive hides in a remote Lancashire barn, three farm children decide he must be Jesus come back to earth. They keep him secret from the doubting adults, determined he won’t be betrayed a second time. Hayley Mills and Alan Bates star in Bryan Forbes’s directorial debut, shot on location with local children in the cast. It’s funny, tender and sharp about how children see the world, set against a bleak northern winter.

Screening introduced by Dr Josephine Botting, author of the BFI Film Classics book on the film.