Seeds

ERIC SAYS Whether in the realms of narrative or documentary filmmaking, there’s a tendency in cinematic depictions of Black Americans to emphasize the urban experience, sometimes to the exclusion of equally moving and urgent stories. Brittany Shyne’s beautiful and thoughtful documentary Seeds expands the frame, bringing us in close to a different way of life. The multi-generational Black farmers Seeds introduces us to have a deep connection to the land and a desire to continue the tradition they’ve built, even as they navigate a changing landscape full of factory farms, corporate subsidies, and broken political promises.

Its gorgeous visuals recall recent breakthroughs in documentary portraiture like Faya Dayi and Hale County This Morning, This Evening, while its mixture of a serene pace with a political edge suggest Sweetgrass crossed with Harlan County, USA. Winner of the U.S. Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Seeds is unquestionably one of the essential documentary experiences of 2025—as well as one of the most assured feature doc debuts in recent memory. (Eric Allen Hatch)