Lab’s Historic Stop-Motion Animation Ready To Reach Last Stop: the Big Screen

How do you capture the stories of refugee children who fled Nazi persecution without their parents?

For students and faculty at the Harry W. Bass Jr. School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology at The University of Texas at Dallas, the answer was to create the University’s first stop-motion puppet animation, “Kinder Doll: A Kindertransport Story.”

The story is based on the Kindertransport rescue effort during World War II, which enabled thousands of unaccompanied children to travel from Nazi-occupied Europe to the United Kingdom. It follows two fictional children, Otto and Edith, who board a train to Britain with their most prized possessions — a teddy bear and a doll. 

Six students — one of whom is now an alum — animated the film, set to debut at UT Dallas’ celebration of International Animation Day on Oct. 28.

The project was led by Dr. Christine Veras, assistant professor of animation and director of the experimenta.l. Animation Lab, in partnership with the Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies. The film’s debut coincides with a Kindertransport exhibit at the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum.

“Jewish children were saved by being allowed into England,” said Dr. Nils Roemer, Bass School dean and Arts, Humanities, and Technology Distinguished University Chair. “It’s both a good story of survival, but it’s also a really horrendous story.”

After the success of “A Lasting Image,” an award-winning Holocaust film in 2022 that was also animated by UT Dallas students, Roemer asked Veras to continue the momentum with the lesser-known history of the Kindertransport.

“I saw the potential for the stories we could tell, especially on such important, historical topics, and I wanted to do justice to this content,” Veras said.

The Bass School supplied the talent: Lecturer Paula Goldberg wrote the script; arts and humanities assistant professor SV Randall’s sculpture class created the puppets and sets; and Katrina Rushing, associate professor of instruction in music, composed the soundtrack with sound mixing and audio engineering supervision from David Marks and Hal Gupta-Fitzgerald, assistant professor of practice and associate professor of practice in arts, technology, and emerging communication, respectively. Bridget Kleiner BS’25 was the project manager.

“It became this wonderful kind of collaboration. It’s our own little movie studio of sorts,” said Roemer, who is also director of the Ackerman Center and the Stan and Barbara Rabin Distinguished Professor in Holocaust Studies. “The school has such a wide range of expertise. We folded it all into the student experience.”

For students who animated the film last spring, the experience was educational and life-changing. They not only formed a unique, close bond, but they also developed a desire to continue in the stop-motion animation field.

Arts, technology, and emerging communication senior Margaret Ridley animated Edith, who sits on a train across from Otto and his teddy bear.

“Edith was kind of my child,” said Ridley, who built much of the puppet, sewed her clothing, posed her and took thousands of still photos to animate her.

The opportunity to animate Edith arose after Ridley studied abroad with Veras in Bristol, England, the home of Aardman Animations, which produced the “Wallace & Gromit” animations. The experience solidified her passion for stop-motion animation as a viable career option.

“I wanted to make sure it would be something I found personally interesting and meaningful,” Ridley said of the “Kinder Doll” film. “That semester was one of the best times in my life.”

Colton Dillard, an animation and games junior who animated Otto, said he knew from an early age that he wanted to pursue animation and chose UT Dallas for its program. As a freshman, he first learned about “Kinder Doll” when he took Randall’s sculpture class; he helped fabricate the puppets and read the screenplay.

“As a freshman, I was excited,” he said. “I felt like I was meant to be in that class.”

When he took Veras’ experimental animation class, he said it “probably changed my career.”

Learning about the Holocaust was challenging for the students. But they channeled the experience into the characters.

“You’re letting years and years of history speak for itself,” Dillard said. “There was the emotional weight, and you had to think about that the whole time.”

Even though the subject matter was difficult, “I think it helped that everybody got along — there was no drama,” said arts, technology and emerging communication senior Audrey Wass, who worked to ensure the historical accuracy of the props and animated a map showing the route the children took.

“We learned how impactful it was to tell these stories,” she said.

Animation and games senior Jimmy Cramer, who created the train car with dollhouse wood paneling and 3D-printed a radio, clock, pocket watch and a menorah, said working on the film helped him find meaningful connections.

“It was the first group of people I connected with in Dallas,” said Cramer, who grew up in East Texas.

Working on stop-motion animation and the film, he said, made him realize a passion for it as well as a possible career path.

“I started rethinking and looking at different opportunities,” he said.

Animation and games senior Chloe Serimontrikul fabricated furniture, painted props and helped create believable settings for the puppets. She said the experience made her fall in love with stop-motion animation.

“It felt very powerful to be a part of the team telling that story and bringing it to life in this very emotional and impactful way,” she said. “It was a great experience, and I was just so honored to be a part of it.”