A flexible sheet includes a plurality of sheaths adapted to receive individual elongated light sources, and forming a collapsible backlight system having expanded and collapsed configurations. In expanded configuration, the flexible sheet is generally planar and the elongated light sources are spatially dispersed, while in the collapsed configuration, the elongated light sources are maintained proximal to each other in generally parallel fashion. The flexible sheet may have front and rear layers, each such layer possessing selected optical qualities such as translucency, reflectivity and diffusivity, depending on the desired application.