Back to selection
“Editorially It Was Similar to Quilt-Making”: Brittany Shyne on her Sundance-Debuting Seeds
Seeds While “stunning directorial debut” is an overused description that seldom lives up to the Sundance hype, in the case of Brittany Shyne’s Seeds it’s also quite precise. The lush, B&W-shot doc is a gorgeous portrait of what may very well be the last in a long line of generational Black farmers in rural Georgia, one in which Shyne’s camera serves as both portal and means of preservation. By quietly and patiently embedding with two extended families in the small town of Thomasville, Shyne is able to capture everything from the languid rhythm of daily work, from harvesting cotton to repairing machinery; to a feisty elderly woman sharing sweets with her young granddaughter in the backseat of a car; to a touching moment of a sturdy octogenarian soothing his tiny great-grandchild to sleep. Though later we likewise see that same tender man express frustration bordering on outrage to Biden admin reps who are all talk and no financial help to farmers — unless they’re white. “I voted for Joe Biden,” he pleads in exasperation. (Black farmers now own but a fraction of the 16 million acres of land they had in 1910.) In other words, Seeds manages to encapsulate all the little things that add up to a heartbreakingly fast-vanishing — and rarely seen onscreen — way of life.
A few days prior to the film’s January 25th U.S. Documentary Competition premiere, Filmmaker caught up with the Dayton-based director-cinematographer and recipient of the 2021 Artist Disruptor Award from the Center of Cultural Power to learn all about the making of Seeds (and learning from her mentors Julia Reichert and Steve Bognar).
Filmmaker: Since you’ve cited P.H. Polk as your touchstone for the imagery, I was a bit surprised to learn that you initially thought you’d be shooting in color. So what was your original plan for the film? How and why did things change?
Shyne: Originally, I thought it would be more visually akin to Alessandra Sanguinetti’s series The Adventures of Guille and Belinda: Something youthful, vibrant, and delightfully lush. But very quickly B&W became the clear choice, dictated by my surroundings.
When I first traveled down to Thomasville, it felt a bit archaic and like a place preserved from a bygone era. Many of the aging farmers in my film are at a critical juncture in their life where things are slowing and winding down. I felt like I wanted to suspend time. The passage of time is a theme throughout the film, and I wanted to tether this notion of permanence and impermanence through my participants, but also within the changing landscape they inhabit. I had long been influenced by B&W photography, and that is why artists like P.H Polk and works by the Kamoinge group became such a significant influence throughout the film.
Filmmaker: Though this is your debut feature, you’re also an Ohioan who served as a cinematographer on the Oscar-winning American Factory. So how did that experience — not to mention working with master documentarians Julia Reichert and Steve Bognar — influence your approach to Seeds, or to nonfiction filmmaking in general.
Shyne: Working on American Factory and Dave Chappelle: This Time This Place with both Julia and Steve as close mentors, I was able to grow and expand as a cinematographer, but also as an individual. Julia was such a formidable and dynamic person, someone who was constantly willing to assist and guide with any type of questions and inquiries. Her passion and commitment for nonfiction cinema was unmatched, and I was extremely privileged to have her as a teacher/guide. Both Steve and Julia believed in my vision early on, and I always will be grateful for their initial support.
Filmmaker: You’ve also spoken about “breaking the fourth wall” — something you hadn’t set out to do — since most of your characters treated you like a granddaughter rather than as an outside filmmaker. I think this intimacy is at the heart of the doc’s power, though I also wonder if being so close to your characters presented any challenges. How did these relationships evolve?
Shyne: I was extremely privileged to be able to spend so much time with these elders. Since their lives at this stage had more ease and sense of leisure, it became a bit easier to gain such a level of intimacy; we spent a lot of time just talking. In some ways, I think my presence on the farm provided a welcoming and new distraction. I think the challenge at times was understanding how their everyday lives could be remarkable and something to treasure. Conveying that importance was sometimes a challenge.
Filmmaker: Can you talk a bit about the editing process and collaborating with veteran director-editor Malika Zouhali-Worrall?
Shyne: I was especially enamored with Malika’s editorial work on Loira Limbal’s Through the Night. Once I watched that film I knew I wanted to reach out to her for Seeds. Luckily, my producer Danielle (Varga) had been working with her on another project so that made it easier to connect.
Malika has such a keen and incisive eye, and collaborating with her has been incredible in a litany of ways. She was able to work with a vast amount of material with such sensitivity, and yet have a precise approach. Though Malika initially came onboard the project in November 2022, we actually met in person for the first time during the Catapult and True/False Rough Cut Retreat back in July of 2024. Since most of our collaboration was done online we just established a natural and instinctive routine; and similar to the film itself, we didn’t work in chronological order. We began with establishing character threads and talked a lot about how to thoughtfully grasp the poetic and nonlinear cyclical structure embedded within the film. Editorially it was similar to quilt-making, creating individual patches and figuring out how each patch was going to be interwoven within the larger framework of these generational farmers’ lives.
Filmmaker: Has everyone seen the final film (or rough cuts)? What are their — and your — hopes for the doc?
Shyne: Because we were racing to finish the film ahead of Sundance, we weren’t able to find the time to share the final cut with every participant. Willie Head Jr. has seen the opening sequence where he is featured, and others have watched scenes during the durational filmmaking process.
I’m very eager to bring Seeds to Georgia for a special in-person screening for the entire community and have elders and everyone’s families present. My hope for Seeds is that the film will be seen as a celebration of love for one’s community and home and become an offering in itself to the participants in the film.
