Winky’s Horse 2005

Six-year-old Winky Wong Ebbie Tam and her mother Hanyi Han immigrate from China to the Netherlands to help her father at his Chinese restaurant. There, Winky meets delivery driver Mamoun Elyounoussi and his girlfriend Sallie Harmsen, and she is happy to see her father again while grappling with a new language and culture.

After a humiliating first day at school, Winky encounters a pony named Saartje and befriends her owners, Betty Schuurman as Tante Cor and Jan Decleir as Oom Siem. She begins to visit the pony regularly and asks them to teach her how to ride; they agree, but her parents refuse, believing it to be dangerous. In school she learns about the Sinterklaas holiday and its traditions, a knowledge that slowly colors her feelings about her new home.

Winky’s mother receives a call about a sick relative and returns to China, leaving Winky saddened by the absence. She seeks comfort at Saartje’s side, and later visits again with her friend Nori de Winter as Siem reveals a heartbreak: the horse Saartje was euthanized because of illness and old age. Winky is crushed by the loss, and the weight of grief lingers.

Weeks pass and the class announces that Sinterklaas and his Zwarte Pieten will be arriving for the annual parade. With Saartje gone, Winky still longs for a horse and sketches one, hoping the mythical figure can grant her wish. Samir brings Winky to the parade after her father declines to take her, and a later poster announces that Sinterklaas will appear at a department store in the city.

In the city store, the department store Sint tells her to wait until 5 December and promises that everything will be alright. When the day arrives, Winky’s mother returns home just in time. Sinterklaas then makes an appearance at her school to hand out gifts for her classmates, but when it is her turn, she receives a stuffed dog instead and bursts with disappointment, leaving the classroom in tears. As she steps outside, she notices a horse strapped to her bicycle and, in a moment of whimsy, rides away on it.

Sinterklaas soon discovers that his horse Amerigo is missing and rushes to Winky’s home, where he finds her. He explains that it was a misunderstanding, and Winky momentarily resists returning Amerigo. After speaking with [Mamoun Elyounoussi], she agrees to return the horse. The next day, Sinterklaas visits Winky and decides that she may look after Amerigo at Cor and Siem’s equestrian facility while he is in Spain.

With Amerigo safe and sound, Winky rides again as her parents wave, and she begins to understand, at last, what the Netherlands and Sinterklaas mean to her and her family.