Do you know where your children are?

The horror of losing a child is brought to life in this short, evocative ad by Juraj Janiš, produced by Slovakian film house Hitchhiker Films. 

In Lost Children, a young boy disappears behind trees, never to emerge. Prams start moving away from mothers without anyone at the handles. A young girl holding her father’s hand on a sidewalk ends up in a bus within a second, without explanation. The entire piece is a disconcerting peek into the psyche of a parent who has lost their child. 

Using clean editing and invoking current and classic horror films, Janiš effectively captures the emotions of families torn apart by separation. The Slovakian charity, Usmev ako dar, works to help underprivileged and at-risk families stay together, keeping children out of orphanages and with their parents. The visual effects are muted, but when they are used the result is chilling.

Without a lot of smoke and mirrors, we not only feel for the people in the spot but we instantly relate it to the library of scary films we have in our own heads, recalling characters and the fear that affects parents throughout fiction.