SELECTED PRESS NOTES - SEEDS
“A Remarkable Portrait of America’s Oldest Black Farmers and the Resilience They Exhibit… this must-see documentary reflects the mission of many families to keep their connection to the earth alive… a lyrical portrait of Black farmers in the American South, [the film is] one of the must-see documentaries at Sundance, and will continue to be vital once released for a broader audience… an incredibly rewarding journey, a film indebted to the past that feels brilliantly alive. Grade: A-”
THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER / Lovia Gyarkye
“A Quietly Stunning Doc Contemplates the Present and Future of Black Farmers… Brittany Shyne constructs an empathetic portrait of Black agrarian life while also revealing threats to its survival in her Sundance-premiering directorial debut… Seeds is not a journalistic investigation but a poetic contemplation… With Seeds, Shyne helps spotlight the farmers, the mature and the budding, fighting to protect what remains.”
THE WRAP / Ronda Racha Penrice
“A visual love letter to the Black, rural South, director-cinematographer Brittany Shyne’s “Seeds” captures a rare snapshot of Black America, where land ownership is a birthright and legacy. Shyne allows her subjects to serve as their own storytellers… She gives space to the plurality of Black stories, keeping family, land, community, and history at their center. Following rules closer to a Black literary tradition than a visual one, Shyne avoids the common approach of many “Black” documentaries more consumed with the problem than the people the problem effects… Like RaMell Ross and his Oscar-nominated documentary “Hale County This Morning, This Evening,” Shyne lets the camera bear witness… Shyne creates a sacred space where these families can be themselves with dignity and pride. She captures their gentleness and rightfully projects it as strength.”
“A languid, loving portrait of Black farmers in the South, “Seeds” is a mixture of celebration and lament. With the patience of a sower, Shyne lets the lives of her subjects unfold gently over two hours. She filmed for nine years, following farm families as they went about their hardscrabble labor, as well as the work of community. Although there are urgent economic and political challenges facing these families, this isn’t muckraking cinema. Instead, the filmmaker hews to the quotidian, the weekly, the annual. Shot in black and white, this portrait of a people is affecting and achy… Shyne, who is also the cinematographer, finds terrific beauty in Carlie’s face with its weepy eyes and silvered hair peeking out from his cap.”
SCREEN INTERNATIONAL / Allan Hunter
“Seeds is a sweet, meditative elegy for a way of life that is fast disappearing. Brittany Shyne’s immersive black and white documentary captures the lyrical everyday in the lives of Black generational farmers in the American South. The focus on family, tradition
and legacy becomes all the more poignant as we start to understand how fragile this existence now is. The intimacy and empathy in the film invite comparisons with RaMell Ross’s Hale County This Morning, This Evening (2021), and Shyne’s feature debut, which premieres in Sundance’s US Documentary competition, should establish her as a distinguished chronicler of the African American experience. The film doesn’t prioritise narrative but instead focuses on generating understanding. Shyne demands patience from the viewer as she slows the pace to reflect the rhythms of this life and, serving as the film’s cinematographer, extends a gentle invitation into this world. Her camera focuses on a cotton harvest that clouds the air with dust and fibres… The film’s heart lies in its more intimate observations. Seeds is steeped in a wistful nostalgia that occasionally brushes up against a harsh modern reality.”
THE PLAYLIST / Christian Gallichio
An elegiac portrait of Black southern farmers, Brittany Shyne’s beautiful “Seeds” represents a profound excavation of the lives of a subsection of farmers struggling to stay afloat. Yet, despite the hardships facing her subjects, “Seeds” is anything but a lament. Instead, this black-and-white documentary, filmed over the course of nine years, is a striking, yet unhurried, character study that is also one of the most beautiful documentaries to emerge from Sundance.