

Seeds
Description
This deeply intimate portrait captures the struggles and resilience of Black farmers working land that has been in their family for a century. Director Brittany Shyne constructs a poetic vérité documentary that immerses viewers in the daily rhythms of agrarian life in the contemporary American South: children playing, conversations from car windows, and the quiet labor of toiling in the fields. Amid the lyrical and timeless beauty emerges something more ominous as the film exposes the systemic discrimination that threatens Black land ownership. With Black farmers historically denied the same government support and resources their white counterparts receive, the film underscores the fragility of these generational legacies. Rendered in breathtaking black-and-white cinematography, Seeds is both a celebration of endurance and a meditation on loss, offering an evocative exploration of identity, inheritance, and the ever-changing relationship between people and the land they cherish. —Amir George

Based in Dayton, OH, Brittany Shyne is an independent filmmaker and cinematographer who seeks to convey the complexity of everyday life in her films. She received her MFA in Documentary Media from Northwestern University and her BFA in Motion Pictures from Wright State University. She is an alumna of the Chicken & (Egg)celerator Lab and was a 2020-2022 Firelight Media Documentary Fellow. Seeds, her first documentary feature, won the Sundance Film Festival’s Documentary Grand Jury Prize.
Film Details
LanguageEnglish
Year2024
Runtime125
CountryUSA
DirectorBrittany Shyne
ProducerDanielle Varga, Sabrina Schmidt Gordon, Brittany Shyne
EditorMalika Zouhali-Worrall
CinematographerBrittany Shyne
MusicRobert Aiki, Aubrey Lowe
Closed CaptionsClosed Captions are confirmed for this film
Audio DescriptionAudio Descriptions are not currently confirmed for this film
American Sign Language (ASL) InterpretationAmerican Sign Language Interpretation is not currently scheduled for this film