SEED: The Untold Story

SEED: The Untold Story follows passionate seed-keepers protecting our 12,000 year-old food legacy.

Film Signature Image
Series
Independent Lens
Premiere Date
April 17, 2017
Length
60 minutes
  • Nominated laurels-r Created with Sketch.
    2017 News and Documentary Emmy Awards-Outstanding Nature Documentary
  • Award laurels-r Created with Sketch.
    2016 Sheffield Doc/Fest-Environmental Award
  • Award laurels-r Created with Sketch.
    2016 Nashville Independent Film Festival-Documentary Grand Jury Prize
    • Co-Director

    Taggart Siegel

    Taggart Siegel has been producing and directing award-winning documentaries and dramatic films for 20 years. His many documentaries include The Split Horn: Life of A Hmong Shaman in America, a sweeping story of a Hmong shaman struggling to maintain his ancient traditions as his children embrace American culture. Siegel’s social documentaries Between Two Worlds, Blue Collar & Buddha, Heart Broken in Half,… Show more and Bitter Harvest, have aired on PBS, cable television, and are distributed worldwide. Siegel produced and directed the theatrical feature Shadow of the Pepper Tree and the short dramatic films Affliction, Ember Days, and Body Memories. In addition, he has produced many films including Destroying Angel, The Beloved, and The Disenchanted Forest for National Geographic Television. He is the founder of Alchemy Films, an independent production company, and is also executive director of the Collective Eye, Inc., a non-profit media organization based in San Francisco. Show less

    Other ITVS Films
    The Real Dirt on Farmer John
    The Split Horn: Life of a Hmong Shaman in America
    Co-Director

    Jon Betz

    Jon Betz is an award-winning independent documentary filmmaker. He was the producer and editor for Queen of the Sun: What Are the Bees Telling Us? (2010). His previous film, Memorize You Saw It (2008), journals his experience as an aid worker living with former child soldiers in Eastern Uganda. Betz is a Fledgling Outreach and Engagement Lab Fellow, a… Show more Britdoc GoodPitch alumni and a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design. He is the director of Collective Eye Films. Show less

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    The Film

    Few things on Earth are as miraculous and vital as seeds, which have been worshipped and treasured since the dawn of humankind. SEED: The Untold Story follows passionate seed-keepers protecting our 12,000 year-old food legacy. In the last century, 94% of our seed varieties have disappeared. As biotech chemical companies control the majority of our seeds, farmers, scientists, lawyers, and indigenous seed keepers fight a David and Goliath battle to defend the future of our food. In a story both harrowing and heartening, these reluctant heroes rekindle a lost connection to our most treasured resource and revive a culture connected to seeds. SEED features Vandana Shiva, Dr. Jane Goodall, Andrew Kimbrell, Winona Laduke, and Raj Patel.

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