We continue our exploration of the joy and wonders of children’s films as part of Le Petit Cinéma Club.

This week we’re pleased to present a rare animated gem about a little alien who befriends a cheerful young girl. A Visit from Space is a sweet and simple film made by the Croatian animator Zlatko Grgić in his early days at Zagreb Film, where a young crop of artists banded together to push forward a new style of animation that emphasized unique perspectives, unconventional soundtracks, and stylistic experimentation.

According to the film historian Ronald Halloway, author of the animation book Z is for Zagreb, A Visit from Space was the direct result of the satirist Fadil Hadžić’s (known as the “Cocteau of Yugoslavia”) appointment as the head of the animation studio Duga Film in the 1950s. Under his leadership, animators like Grgić were allowed to pursue their wildest whimsies and make films such as A Visit from Space, in which two aliens crashland on Earth, and one of them, now stranded, becomes enamored with apples upon meeting a friendly tot who helps the alien make its way back home.

In a statement at the Museum of Modern Art in 1968, the artists of the Zagreb Studio, which included Grgić, wrote the following about animation:

“Life is warmness. Warmness is movement. Movement is life. Animation is giving life; it means giving warmth. Animation could be tepid, warm or boiling. Cold animation is not animation. It is a stillborn child. Practically, animation is a long rubbing, of tree against tree in order to get sparkle or perhaps just a little smoke.” ZAGREB STUDIO

A Visit from Space acts as both an introduction to Grgić’s unique sense of absurdism and his studio’s distinctive approach to animation. His style in the film is far from realism, showcasing a playful attitude toward design and narrative that suits his subject matter: the childlike and otherworldly.

Zlatko Grgić was born in Zagreb, Yugoslavia, in 1931. He was part of the radical group of artists who put Croatian animation on the world stage, with a Short Film Palme d’Or in 1968 for The Musical Pigs and an Academy Award nomination for his short film Dream Doll in 1979. He eventually emigrated to Canada, where he directed educational films for the National Film Board of Canada. But his most popular and beloved creations were two television series: Professor Balthazar (1967–1978) and Maxi Cat (1971–1973).

For similar children’s films of an inventive and unexpected sort, we recommend attending Metrograph Theater’s upcoming “Art Cinema for Tots: Food and Friends” if you live in New York City; it is the latest installment in an ongoing series dedicated to getting “kids started on quality cinema.”

Text written by Nicolas Pedrero-Setzer. Special thanks to Inge de Leeuw.