Trees are fed up with us humans. “I was here before the concrete, when it was just the jungle,” a tree with a raspy voice and Brooklyn accent (who sounds suspiciously like Ronna from the Ronna & Beverly podcast) bemoans. Filmmakers Francis Agyapong, Jr. and Phillip Gladkov offer what they describe as “a film about gentrification from the perspective of a tree." GEN(TREE)FICATION is an unsparring short film. A typical New Yorkers’ outrage at gentrification (flannel-clad hipsters and high-priced coffee shops) broadens to outrage about humankind on earth.

Through montages of documentary footage, GEN(TREE)FICATION moves quickly in time from lush forests, to falling trees, up to towering skyscrapers. “Through the years, [humans] developed and manufactured propoganda tools to put the masses against us,” the tree states. The trees are speaking up now, and this video is helping them to be heard.

GEN(TREE)FICATION is written and directed by Francis Agyapong, Jr. and Phillip Gladkov. The tree is voiced by Thalia Romina. Music is composed by Evan Joseph. GEN(TREE)FICATION is the second in a series of short humerous videos that Agyapong and Gladkov are releasing each month on Vimeo under their production company Cracking Up in 5.