THE STORY – An exploration of Black generational farmers in the American South reveals the fragility of legacy and the significance of owning land.
THE CAST – N/A
THE TEAM – Brittany Shyne (Director)
THE RUNNING TIME – 123 Minutes
The smartest choice that Brittany Shyne makes with her quietly powerful new documentary, “Seeds,” is to seemingly intrude as little as possible. While some documentaries barrage the viewer with information in the forms of interviews, archival footage, and onscreen graphics, “Seeds” lets its subjects speak for themselves. That’s not to say that Shyne’s work is invisible; the film is structured in a way that allows its ultimate impact organically to sneak up on audiences in a powerfully affecting way. Shyne’s gently captured film shrouds a rumbling sense of justified discontent, brought on by – as the film will go on to show – continued discrimination and unfair governmental practices. In that way, “Seeds” fully enmeshes viewers into the lives of those depicted, allowing their joys and struggles to feel entwined with those of the audience as only the most empathetically-made films can.
Shyne’s film beautifully captures the day-to-day lives of three Black-owned farms – two in Georgia and one in Mississippi. We follow their routines both on the field and off, and in doing so, come to learn organically about their familial interactions (notably, the film shows the multiple generations that live and work together on these farms), along with the difficulties they regularly face.
These highlighted problems aren’t the kind that a farm might be expected to naturally face, like weather or pests. Instead, governmental roadblocks stand in the way of their ability to properly manage their farms, thanks to holdups in funding. As the film shows, these delays don’t seem to affect white farmers in the same area. Eventually, some of the farmers that “Seeds” follows end up traveling to Washington, D.C., to participate in a protest in front of the White House, rightfully demanding the funds that were already apportioned to them by a Biden-backed bill.
The film does what some of the best politically-minded documentaries do: Spotlights an issue possibly unfamiliar to audiences that aren’t already experiencing it. Most notably, “Seeds” offers a distressing figure: During 1910, Black farmers owned 16 million acres of land. Now, over a century later, they only own 1.5 million acres. The film shows the importance of this quickly diminishing land to those who still hold the deeds, both as a source of income and, most importantly, as an inheritance to their children and grandchildren.
The compounding generations that the film focuses on provide the title with its double meaning. Just as the farmers plant literal seeds in the ground, their progeny represent the seeds of legacy. Thus, the very land that they’re fighting for is more than a way to make a profit: It’s the necessary foundation for the continuing success of those who will follow these farmers, just as their forefathers left the land to many of them. “Seeds” captures this profoundly moving tradition with a sparse, hands-off quality that only helps the audience naturally come to these realizations. The gorgeous black-and-white cinematography even serves to underline this theme, removing the line between the past and the present by making everything look old-fashioned. There is no visual discrepancy between now and what came before, it all melds together with a unified sense of timelessness. “Seeds” takes audiences to a world built upon a base of tradition that needs support and attention to continue.
