With their experience working on some of Disney’s recent high-profile features, Nathan Engelhardt and Jeremy Spears bring a clear level of craft to their Oscar-nominated animation Forevergreen. That said, the short is far from a traditional studio production. In reality, it was very much a passion project – built through the goodwill of 200 collaborators who volunteered their time and energy to help bring it to life. Still, despite its grassroots origins, the film carries many of the qualities that have historically resonated in the Best Animated Short Film category at the Academy Awards.
At its heart, Forevergreen is a tender and accessible story: a young orphaned bear finds unexpected protection and companionship beneath the sheltering branches of a fatherly evergreen tree. The narrative leans into the emotional nature of its premise, but what really elevates it is the film’s visual approach. Engelhardt and Spears use a carefully crafted 3D style designed to evoke the tactile charm of stop-motion animation – something that immediately gives the film a handmade quality, even within a digital pipeline. It’s a combination of heartfelt storytelling and distinctive aesthetics that makes the short stand out, and one that other nominees in the category will likely recognise as a strong contender.
With Engelhardt and Spears joining us on Directors Notes as part of our Oscar nominees interview series to discuss the film, we took the opportunity to dig a little deeper into the creative journey behind Forevergreen. In our conversation, the directing duo talk about the joys of meeting Steven Spielberg, how parenthood shaped the emotional core of the story, and why wood carvings became a key reference point for the film’s visual design.
It’s one thing to just to say ‘oh, look at this cool style’, but it always has to emerge out of the narrative.
