Our series dedicated to films for children and their parents returns with five short gems from around the world. Included in this year’s edition of Le Petit Cinéma Club are films from animation wizard Karel Zeman, French filmmaker Yannick Bellon, Iranian master Abbas Kiarostami, animator Michael Sporn adapting William Steig’s iconic illustrations, and kids collective Yellow Ball Film Workshop. Their works showcase the infinite possibilities of cinema and it’s our hope that they act as a perfect introduction to the medium’s many styles and voices.

Made in 1949, this early short film from Karel Zeman (The Fabulous Baron Munchausen and Journey to the Beginning of Time) dazzles with its craftsmanship and wondrous sense of imagination. Dedicated to Czech glassmakers, Inspiration makes ample use of glass in its animation, setting the foundations for the sophisticated and inventive filmmaking Zeman expanded upon throughout his career. Many of his films are available to stream on The Criterion Channel, accompanied with videos detailing their creation and legacy.

Much of Inspiration takes place inside a rain droplet, where a glass ice-skater named Columbina and a lovesick clown named Pierrot dance around each other in circles. Earlier in the film, it’s made clear this fanciful vision spurs from a daydreaming glassmaker who, suffering from a creative block, looks at the rain outside his window for a source of inspiration.

“I was at the start of my filmmaking. I was convinced that in the front of the puppet film lay unlimited possibilities in the exercise of imagination and the discovery of new magical realms. I attempted this in the film Inspiration.” KAREL ZEMAN

Zeman worked on Inspiration at a small animation studio in Zlín, where a group of animators including Hermína Týrlová and Otakar Vávra helped revive their nation’s animation scene in the aftermath of World War II. For Zeman, the aim was always to push the medium to its limits. And, while glass was one of the most difficult materials to animate, he made it dance onscreen.

Karel Zeman studied business and worked in advertising before he started making stop-motion animated shorts in the 1940s. He was recruited to work at the Zlín animation studio by filmmaker Elmar Klos in 1943 and ended up heading their stop-motion department shortly thereafter. In 1955, he released the first of the six feature films he’d become best known for: a series of fantastic adaptations that includes Journey to the Beginning of Time (1955), The Fabulous Baron Munchausen (1962), and On the Comet (1970), among other titles. His work has continued to inspire many filmmakers over the decades, including Jan Švankmajer and Terry Gilliam.

Text written by Nicolas Pedrero-Setzer. Special thanks to Národní Filmový Archiv, Criterion, and Christopher Small. And, an additional note of gratitude to Orfeo Tagiuri, who contributed the wonderful animated introduction that precedes each film in the series.