Wand-ing

A little girl finds a magic wand... what on Earth can go wrong?

  • Nikole Hidalgo McGregor
    Director
  • Mathias Lacroix
    Musical Composition
  • Project Type:
    Animation, Short, Student
  • Runtime:
    2 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    April 23, 2018
  • Country of Origin:
    Canada
  • Country of Filming:
    Canada
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    Yes
Director Biography - Nikole Hidalgo McGregor

Nikole Hidalgo McGregor is a video artist based in Toronto, Canada. She is currently finishing her BFA at OCAD University, where she is on the path to graduating with honours. Her eagerness for experimentation characterizes her work; her animated compositions are a mixture of techniques that find balance on the screen. With socially aware commentary, her pieces shine for being raw characterizations of women’s issues and identity conundrums in the modern world.

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Director Statement

While "Wand-ing" is a playful tale of witchcraft and naughtiness, it also tackles issues of representation. The setting presented shows the stereotypical western idealization of a witch tale, with the cauldron and the Victorian house. Regardless, the characters are clearly not white, since I painted their skins to match my skin colour.

Since this story is fictional, it does not make sense at all to keep it "historically accurate". Latino representation is the lowest on screen and it does not reflect the Latino population in the world. "Wand-ing" tackles this issue in a subtle way via its story-driven approach, which does not give viewers a chance to emphasize on broken archetypes. Thus, it shows that it is possible to cast people of color in fantasy settings without destroying elements of it.