of K–12 Jewish parents surveyed said their child encountered antisemitism at school.
ADLAnimated short film · In production
Hidden Light
A Holocaust story of fantasy, folklore and Jewish mysticism — about the light no darkness can extinguish.
A 15-minute film designed to live both on screen and in classrooms.
Concept art by Yoni Goodman
The premise
When a gifted child is imprisoned in Terezín, a kindred spirit shows him that art can transform despair into something even more powerful than hope.
Hidden Light is built as both a cinematic work and an educational bridge — emotionally accessible, visually distinctive and unmistakably Jewish in its inner language.
The film
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 Terezín, 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 — revealing an inner freedom that no oppressor can take away.
Physical escape may be impossible. The inner world remains bright, vast and alive.
Why now
Memory is fading. Antisemitism is rising. Jewish stories must reach new audiences.
Hidden Light meets this moment through a story that brings young viewers into Holocaust memory through imagination, emotion and a distinctly Jewish spiritual vocabulary.
Americans believe the Holocaust is a hoax.
YouGov / The EconomistAmericans cannot name a single concentration camp.
Claims ConferenceA 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 design.
This is not simply a trailer — it is the first proof of concept for a film with educational and cultural life far beyond the screen.
Animatic1:14
The visual world
Three realities. One unbroken spirit.
The visual language moves from occupied Prague, into the severe gray of Terezín, and finally into an incandescent realm shaped by Jewish folklore and mystical imagination.
From line to life
Character design in motion.
Yoni Goodman’s early pencil explorations evolve into the finished visual language of the film.
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.
Sketch → design
Rolf Jaeger
The embodiment of a machinery built to erase every last expression of humanity.
The children of Terezín
Their art survived.
The film’s end-credit tribute draws on the children’s surviving drawings — and on the real lives behind them.
4,000+ children’s drawings were recovered from the Terezín ghetto after the war.
15,000 children were imprisoned there. Fewer than 150 survived.
The children themselves
Behind the drawings were real children whose faces still meet ours across time.
Alongside the artwork, Hidden Light brings attention back to the children of Terezín themselves — their individuality, imagination and humanity.
A survivor’s message
“I support Hidden Light because it’s about shining your inner light on the world and being proud of who you are. 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 Terezín · Author · Chemist
The spiritual idea at the heart of the film
Every soul is a letter.
Jewish mystical tradition teaches that the root souls of Israel correspond to the letters of the Torah — each carrying a distinct place, voice and purpose within a greater whole.
No letter is expendable. No soul is without meaning. The scroll is whole only when every letter can be seen.
A teaching associated with the Zohar Chadash and later Kabbalistic and Hasidic tradition.
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 Studio
Co-Producer
Award-winning Israeli animation studio behind Academy Award-recognized and festival-honored work.
Jacob Ribicoff
Sound Designer
Emmy-winning sound designer whose credits include Severance, Fantastic Mr. Fox and Ken Burns’ The War.
Moshe Bonen
Composer
Israeli-born composer and multi-instrumentalist creating the film’s original score.
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 Terezín, Holocaust memory, Jewish spiritual resistance, creativity and identity.
Partner organizations have committed to support classroom screenings, curriculum development and broader distribution to students and communities around the world.
Tax-deductible giving: The project is fiscally sponsored by Cinema Arts Centre, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Support the project
Help bring Hidden Light into the world.
Your support helps move the film from concept art and animatic into finished animation — and into the classrooms and communities that need its message.
Hidden Light is fiscally sponsored by Cinema Arts Centre, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Contributions are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.