A 15-minute animated short film

Hidden Light

A Holocaust story of fantasy, folklore and Jewish mysticism — about the light no darkness can extinguish.

▶ Watch the animatic Help complete the film

Concept art by Yoni Goodman

The premise

When a gifted child is imprisoned in Terezin, a kindred spirit shows him that art can transform despair into something even more powerful than hope.

Animated shortHistorical fantasyIn production

4,000+children’s drawings were recovered from Terezin after the war.

15,000children are estimated to have passed through the ghetto.

<150of those children survived.

A first glimpse

Watch the animatic

This 74-second visual-development preview introduces David, Meir and the world of the film. The finished short will feature fully realized animation, music and sound.

Animatic1:14

The story

A boy who sees what others cannot.

Ten-year-old David is a gifted artist in Nazi-occupied Prague. When he follows a trail of luminous Hebrew letters, he discovers Meir — a mysterious Hasidic painter whose art opens a portal into a world of Jewish wonder.

Imprisoned in Terezin, David begins drawing again. The letters return. So does Meir. Together, they soar beyond the camp on a magic prayer shawl, encountering the Leviathan, seraphim, the Golem and the fiery Chol — and revealing an inner freedom no oppressor can take away.

Physical escape may be impossible. The inner world remains bright, vast and alive.

David in a Prague street beneath Nazi banners — Prague — the world grows dark.

Meir surrounded by glowing Hebrew letters — Art reveals a hidden world.

The visual world

Three realities. One unbroken spirit.

The visual language moves from occupied Prague, into the severe gray of Terezin, and finally into an incandescent realm drawn from Jewish folklore and mystical imagination.

David in occupied Prague — 01Occupied PragueMuted, watchful, closing in.

An SS officer confronting David in the barracks — 02TerezinOppression rendered in ash and shadow.

David and Meir flying beside the fiery Chol bird — 03The art worldColor, movement and boundless Jewish imagination.

From line to life

Meet the characters

Yoni Goodman’s early pencil explorations evolve into the film’s finished visual language. Hover — or tap — to reveal the developed design.

Sketch → design

David

A ten-year-old artist whose imagination becomes an act of spiritual resistance.

Sketch → design

Meir

A Hasidic painter who recognizes David’s gift — and teaches him how to enter it.

Developed character design of Officer Jaeger

Sketch → design

Rolf Jaeger

The embodiment of a machinery built to erase every last expression of humanity.

A survivor’s message

“This film will be an essential way to introduce young people to the Holocaust in an engaging manner that they can feel, touch and care about.”

Dr. Inge AuerbacherChild survivor of Terezin · Author · Chemist

Beyond the screen

A film built to live in classrooms.

Hidden Light is designed not only as a work of art, but as an educational bridge into Terezin, Holocaust memory, Jewish spiritual resistance, creativity and identity.

Partner organizations have committed to support classroom screenings, curriculum development and distribution to students around the world.

Foundation to Combat AntisemitismAnne Frank Center USALeo Baeck InstitutePrizmahSousa Mendes FoundationKindertransport AssociationMemorial Scrolls TrustTOLI

Recognized by leaders in animation and Holocaust education

“A universal and important message that will be unlike any Holocaust story that has come before it.”
Bill PlymptonTwo-time Academy Award-nominated animator

“Entirely original in its evocation of Jewish mysticism… a unique approach that will fill an important gap in the representation of the Holocaust.”
Dr. Shulamit ReinharzScholar and author

The filmmakers

A team with the craft and context to do this story justice.

Jacob Fiskus

Writer / Producer

Producer of HBO’s One Day in October and A Tree of Life: The Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting.

Yoni Goodman

Director of Animation

Animation director of the Academy Award-nominated Waltz with Bashir and Where Is Anne Frank.

Dr. Jud Newborn

Co-Producer / Historical Consultant

Founding Historian Emeritus and co-creator of New York’s Museum of Jewish Heritage.

The
Hive

The Hive Studio

Co-Producer

Award-winning Israeli animation studio behind Academy Award-recognized and festival-honored work.

Jacob RibicoffEmmy-winning Sound Designer

Moshe BonenComposer / Executive Producer

Bring the hidden light into the world

Help us complete the film.

Your support helps move Hidden Light from concept art and animatic into finished animation — and into the classrooms and communities that need its message.

Support on CauseMatch Discuss a partnership

The support button opens the film’s secure CauseMatch campaign page.