SEEDS Documentary

Winner of the U.S. Grand Jury Prize for Documentary at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, filmmaker Brittany Shyne’s engrossing and profoundly intimate feature debut explores the lives of a multi-generational family of Black farmers in Georgia whose agrarian way of life is at jeopardy due to historic and contemporary economic practices rooted in racism. Shot by Shyne herself in an evocative black and white palette that emphasizes moments both tender — an elder teaching her granddaughter about the afterlife, a peaceful ride on the flatbed of a truck, a lullaby sung to the newest member of the family — and maddening — protests in front of the White House, a disappointing phone call with the USDA over reparations, concerns that new prescription glasses are unaffordable — SEEDS is a poetic and lyrical work that mesmerizes with every frame. For these farmers, the division between personal and professional lives is razor-thin and so Shyne cuts between them breezily; one moment, we’re transfixed by a massive vehicle harvesting cotton and then by a brief chat between old friends along the road. In this way, we are invited into the rich lives of a group of people dedicated to an incredibly important yet oft-ignored occupation; as one farmer remarks, “farming is the backbone of the world.” As the number of Black-owned farms has shrunk from over 16 million acres to just a million, SEEDS proves a powerful and compelling testament to that statement. –Javier Chavez