Seeds review: Documentary highlighting the realities of Black farmers is a must-see


Seeds, the new documentary that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, accounts the journey of Black generational farmers in the American South through a rich black-and-white lens. From the very first frame, which begins at a funeral site, there is an instant thread of connection that tells us that we are in the hands of a filmmaker who is going to tell this story from a deeply personal space. (Also read: DJ Ahmet review: Macedonian coming-of-age drama charms and delights)

Seeds is the directorial debut of filmmaker Stephanie Owens.

The premise

Shyne immediately establishes the fact that this journey is not from the perspective of an outsider, where the viewer needs to be acquainted with the subjects first, know where they come from, and then trace their issues. Here, the world-building goes inwards, following the lives of a community facing a crisis at hand from the lens of someone who shares the same personal space.

So, when we meet all these people at this funeral, Shyne (who also presides as the cinematographer) follows the ride back home in the back of the car as Clara Williams chats with her granddaughter, telling her where the body in the hearse will be going. We become part of this exchange and, in turn, a silent observer of this family.

What works

This intimate act of observation becomes a necessary device to understand then what this community is currently dealing with. Clara is the thread that will take the viewer through a generation of farmers as they will slowly reveal their anxieties about the future, the amount of discrimination they continue to face, and even more.

At the centre of this moving documentation is the oldest one in the family, the 89-year-old Carlie Williams. A moving sequence sees the octogenarian visiting an optometrist, where the exchange on what the treatment will cost him leaves him asking if there’s any other way out to treat the issue. He cannot afford the glasses at those huge rates. Even after farming all his life, he has to think twice before spending so much on that.

The gorgeous monochromatic cinematography presents this community in a series of distilled sequences who share their joys and sorrows and rightfully demand their rights. Shye’s camera stops and watches but never pinpoints towards any emotional manipulation. It is a sort of call to a lifestyle that feels utterly in sync with each other’s responsibilities. But that sentiment belonged to the older generation.

This subtext of legacy is brought in with care, where a younger generation of the same families seems to have moved away from this occupation out of choice. This subtlety is balanced with more blunt questions on government response to farmer issues. “The president said he had our back. I voted for him. Yet nothing has been done,” says one of them about Biden. One wonders which direction this activism will lead in the current administration.

Seeds is incredibly assured in the manner in which it approaches its subjects, and how the viewer is rewarded with information about them. The film asks for patience from the viewer, to grow as part of these people in the community. Brittany Shyne has created a fragile, wistful film that feels right of the moment. This is one of the best of the year.

Santanu Das is covering Sundance Film Festival 2025 as part of the accredited press.

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