TOYLAND (English Subtitles)

1942: what happens when a German kid believes that his Jewish neighbors are going to Toyland? A beautiful and moving story about lies and guilt. SFJFF is proud to present the 2009 Academy Award Winner for Best Live Action Short Film as our free online short for the month of February. Directed by Jochen Alexander Freydank.

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Recent Short Film (Live-Action) Oscar-winner Toyland (Spielzeugland) is available for free viewing on YouTube during the month of February thanks to a cool and unique promotional gesture from the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival.

A young German boy is hurt when he finds out that his best friend will be leaving soon “to go on a trip”. His mother, in order to hide the truth tells him that his friend and parents are going to “Toyland”.

Shorts International has, for the last several years, gobbled up the rights to all Oscar-nominated short films—packaging them in their successful DVD collections and placing them for individual sale in Apple’s iTunes store. So, while they’ve been available, it’s a rare treat that a film like 2009 winner Toyland (Spielzeugland) is available on YouTube even for a limited period—just in time for this year’s Academy Awards!

This 14min German film treads well-worn territory at this point—adults trying to protect innocent youngsters from a true understanding of the horrors of the Holocaust. However when done well these stories still possess an unmatched power to move an audience.

And no bones about it, Toyland certainly is very well done. It has everything you want from a prestige short film production: wonderful acting, authentic set/costume design, and professional level cinematography complete with several interesting shots. But more impressively even than that is how director Jochen Alexander Freydank faciley tells his story in two timelines; background details emerge simultaneously with present action. It can be confusing at first, but it results in a big payoff at the end. A truly wonderful film.