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Three bewildered puppets from a children’s TV show try to figure out how to carry on after the death of their creator in Nina Gantz’s poignant and truly original short, Wander to Wonder. The talented Dutch director, who recently won the top Jury Prize at the SXSW film festival, answered a few of our questions about her lovely work.
She says she wanted to create a world with multiple complex characters to allow her to explore dialogue for the first time. “The idea that it’s all set in an old TV show studio originated between me and [co-writer] Simon Cartwright. We had heard about scandals and abuse linked with some of the most famous British kids TV shows, and we became fascinated by the juxtaposition of the sweet innocence of these shows and the murkiness behind the scenes.
“A few years into the project, due to budget changes, COVID and Simon moving over to another project, I rewrote the script completely with the help of Daan Bakker,” she adds. “The story became more focused on the journey of the little humans and how they all deal with grief in a very different way. But the contrast between the innocent and sinister world is still there.”
Evolution of the Tale
The beginnings of the short go back to 2016 when Ganz and Cartright (director of Manoman) were on their way to Sundance to screen their graduation films. It took about eight years to finance the new project. The final project is a collaboration between Pedri Animation in the Netherlands (fabrication of the silicone puppets), Blink in the U.K. (3D modeling and facial animation), Mon Beau Studio in France (life-size sets) and Rosie Tonkin in the U.K. (small sets and props). The team used Dragonframe for the shoot.
The director mentions that her own personal experiences also played in important part on the short’s creative evolution. “During the last re-write of the script, I experienced a bereavement, which made me focus even more on how the characters dealt with such a seismic event. Around me, I saw how people cope very differently with their grief and that’s something you see in the film. Mary clings on to the past, almost acting like nothing has changed, Fumbleton feels like he finally can be free and let his ambition as a serious Shakespeare artist come out and Billybud continues to juggle for the fans.”
Gantz says she loves working in stop-motion animation because of the solitary, almost meditative work during the animatic stage, as well as the more collaborative steps later. “Also, the tactility that comes with stop-motion is wonderful. You can really use the material to your advantage in a story. For instance, with my previous short, Edmond, I think if you told that story in real flesh and blood it would have felt very different than making splashes of blood out of wool. Because of the softness of the wool, you can soften the emotion in some way. In Wander to Wonder we tell a story of grief but by showing this through the eyes of three tiny human puppets I think it brings some lightness to the story.”
When asked for some helpful advice for new stop-motion directors, she says, “I would advise you to get work experience at any production company you like the work of. It gives you the chance to look at the different working methods of directors and do little jobs so people get to know you. I also would advise doing a master’s degree at a film school. I studied for two years at The National Film and Television School and it was a life-changing experience for me. I learned a lot from the teachers and also from all the students around me. I still work with some of the people I met there. Hell, I even married one of them — Terence Dunn, the music composer for both Edmond and Wander to Wonder.”
Wander to Wonder will next screen at Anifilm (Czechia) in May and Animafest (Croatia) in June. For more information, visit ninagantz.com.
