In January 2025, devastating wildfires swept through Los Angeles, leaving thousands of families reeling from the loss of their homes. In Nat Wolff and Austin Cauldwell’s short film Where We Played: Voices From the Fire, we look at the effects of the fires from the perspective of the children who were affected.
A young boy walks through what used to be his house. He navigates through the wreckage, trying to find the spot where his old swing set stood. He remembers exactly where the staircase used to be. As the memories of what was once his home flood through his mind, he becomes overwhelmed and runs to his parents. He’s still trying to make sense of that day, like many other kids in his position.
Other kids describe what happened to them on that fateful day. In an instant, they were told to grab whatever they could carry and leave their home, not given a moment to understand what was happening until it was already over. Then everything was gone, and they were left learning to hold on to each other as a family and find something to hope for on the other side.
“In an instant, they were told to grab whatever they could carry and leave their home, not given a moment to understand what was happening until it was already over.”
Where We Played: Voices From the Fire hits different than most documentaries about grief and loss. It’s not really about losing someone — it’s about losing everything, all these temporary things. Your house, your street, your neighbors. That’s the thing that gets me: it’s kids trying to process something most adults would struggle to put into words. The filmmakers deserve a great deal of credit here. Getting children to talk about their trauma is difficult and sometimes walks that line of exploitation. Here, they don’t prompt, they don’t push, they just let the kids talk about what they want to talk about. It’s this subtle restraint on the filmmakers’ part that makes the film work.
What’s fascinating (and heartbreaking) is how differently kids process their grief and trauma. Some power through it boldly, while others turn inward, and talking about it becomes their therapy in a way. Where We Played understands that, and by the end, what’s left isn’t really about the fire at all — it’s about how temporary everything physical actually is, and how what survives is family, friends, and the community that shows up for you when the ground is literally gone.
"…it's about losing everything, all these temporary things."
