Three Tiny TV Stars Face A Grim Fate In Nina Gantz’s Oscar-Nominated ‘Wander To Wonder,’ Now Online

Nina Gantz’s Oscar-nominated stop-motion short Wander to Wonder is now available to watch online following a remarkable festival run that brought 49 awards from 188 selections.

The film centers on Mary, Billybud, and Fumbleton, three miniature human actors left behind in the studio where they performed in an eighties children’s television series. After the show’s creator dies, the trio continues producing increasingly strange episodes for an audience that may no longer exist, even as their costumes decay and their food runs out.

Gantz strikes a compelling balance between dark comedy, creeping horror, and a surprisingly moving exploration of grief and loss. The meticulously crafted puppets and sets evoke tactile children’s-TV nostalgia, making the characters’ deteriorating circumstances all the more unsettling. Pay special attention to the scene in which a puppet is animated licking the inside of a glass jar. It’s a stunning display of stop-motion craftsmanship.

Wander to Wonder premiered at the Venice Film Festival and went on to win a BAFTA, BIFA, Annie Award, and the animated short prize at SXSW before earning an Academy Award nomination.