Watch Forevergreen (2025)—a captivating animated short film by Nathan Engelhardt & Jeremy Spears. Explore the artistry and story behind this unique animation.
🌲💚 Forevergreen (2025) — Animated Short Film by Nathan Engelhardt & Jeremy Spears
What if a forest could sing its own story? Forevergreen is a hand‑crafted animated short that turns nature into a living character, exploring the fragile balance between human presence and the timeless resilience of trees. Directed by Nathan Engelhardt and Jeremy Spears, the film is both a visual poem and a heartfelt call to remember our place in the natural world.
🧭 Overview
- Genre: Animation · Fantasy · Environmental Drama 🎭
- Directors: Nathan Engelhardt & Jeremy Spears 🎬
- Runtime: ~13 minutes ⏱️
- Country: United States 🇺🇸
- Language: Non‑verbal / musical storytelling 🎶
- Release: 2025 (festival circuit)
- Style: Painterly · Atmospheric · Allegorical
Watch the shorts trailer:
📖 Story in Brief
- The Forest: A lush, evergreen landscape that feels eternal, breathing with color and sound.
- The Intrusion: Human presence begins to disrupt the harmony — machines, footsteps, and shadows.
- The Struggle: Trees and creatures resist, their movements animated like dancers in a silent opera.
- The Transformation: The forest reveals its resilience, adapting and reclaiming space.
- The Resolution: A final image of renewal — nature scarred but still alive, whispering its eternal song.
🎨 Creative DNA & Style
- Painterly animation: Frames resemble living canvases, with brush‑like textures and glowing greens.
- Musical storytelling: The score replaces dialogue, weaving emotion through sound.
- Symbolic imagery: Trees as guardians, roots as memory, leaves as voices.
- Tone: Meditative, haunting, yet hopeful.
🌟 Themes & Resonance
- Environmental fragility: How human actions ripple through ecosystems.
- Resilience of nature: Despite harm, forests endure and regenerate.
- Human responsibility: A reminder that stewardship is not optional.
- Spiritual connection: The forest as more than landscape — as living presence.
✅ Pros & ❌ Cons
Pros
- 🎯 Unique visual style: Painterly animation feels timeless.
- 🎶 Emotional score: Music carries the narrative beautifully.
- 🌍 Universal message: Speaks across cultures about nature’s importance.
Cons
- ⏳ Abstract narrative: May feel symbolic rather than plot‑driven.
- 🌀 Slow pacing: Designed for reflection, not action.
💡 Humanized Takeaway
Forevergreen (forevergreenfilm.com) is less a film than a meditation. Engelhardt and Spears invite us to listen — not just to birdsong or wind, but to the forest’s deeper voice. It’s a short that reminds us that while humans may scar the earth, nature continues to breathe, adapt, and endure. Watching it feels like standing in a clearing at dawn, humbled by something larger than yourself.
🔍 Find More & Watch
- FilmFreeway listing — synopsis and festival details
- IMDb page for Forevergreen — credits and release info