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Nina Gantz’s ‘Wander to Wonder’ Wins Top Animation Prize at the HollyShorts Festival

Nina Gantz’s poignant stop-motion animated short Wander to Wonder won the Best Animated Short award at this year’s Hollyshorts Festival over the weekend. The winning title at the festival automatically becomes qualified to be considered for the Best Animated Short Oscar race.

The short, which also won the top Jury Prize at the SXSW film festival earlier this year follows three bewildered puppets from a children’s TV show that try to figure out how to carry on after the death of their creator.

Nina Gantz (Hollyshorts Festival)

“The inspiration for the short came from a lot of different places,” Gantz told Animation Magazine a few months ago. “Visually, I was always fascinated by old films that combined live-action and stop-motion. I feel that the combination really stands the test of time. I love that it doesn’t try to hide the technique but is still believable when put together in the same world.”

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.”

Gantz’s 2016 short Edmund was also critically acclaimed and won the the Juried Prize for Animation at Sundance and the BAFTA for Top Short Animation.

The 20th edition of the renowned HollyShorts Film Festival (HSFF) took place at the TCL Theaters in Hollywood from August 8 to 18, 2024. This year, 36 animated short films from around the world competed in the category for Best Short Animation. You can learn more at hollyshorts.com.

Watch the trailer below:

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