Animated Film Eulogizes Demolished Childhood Home

Jason Mitcham's stop-motion short "Ever Behind the Sunset" pays tribute to his family's lost property in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Published on Feb. 10, 2026

Got story updates? Submit your updates here. ›

Jason Mitcham's childhood home in Greensboro, North Carolina, was seized by the local government in 2011 via eminent domain to widen a road. Mitcham has created a hand-painted stop-motion film, "Ever Behind the Sunset," that combines expressive compositions with audio from his mother and home videos to memorialize the beloved landmark and the community's fight against the commercial development that permanently altered their neighborhood.

Why it matters

The film reflects a series of personal and local devastations, including the collapse of Mitcham's father's civil engineering and land-surveying firm after the 2008 housing crisis, his parents' bankruptcy, his father's death, and his mother's passing. It serves as a poignant tribute to the loss of a cherished family home and the broader changes impacting the community.

The details

Mitcham last saw the site in 2023, when a paved highway had replaced the neighborhood where he grew up. The stop-motion film combines a series of expressive, hand-painted compositions with audio from the artist's mother and his own home videos taken throughout the 1980s, animating a story of loss, grief, and remembrance.

  • Mitcham's childhood home was seized by the local government in 2011 via eminent domain.
  • Mitcham last visited the site in 2023, when a paved highway had replaced the neighborhood.

The players

Jason Mitcham

An artist who created the stop-motion film "Ever Behind the Sunset" to memorialize the loss of his childhood home in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Got photos? Submit your photos here. ›

What they’re saying

“the collapse of my father's civil engineering and land-surveying firm after the 2008 housing crisis, my parents' bankruptcy, his death, followed by my mother's, and the community's fight against the commercial development that would permanently alter their neighborhood.”

— Jason Mitcham (thisiscolossal.com)

The takeaway

Mitcham's film serves as a poignant tribute to the loss of a cherished family home and the broader changes impacting the local community, highlighting the personal and communal devastation caused by eminent domain and commercial development.