Seeds — Screening & Discussion with ADW-PAL Keri Putnam and filmmaker Brittany Shyne
Interweaving the stories of three Black generational farmers, Seeds is a moving and powerful portrait of farming today that celebrates the joys, struggles, and fragility of legacy and owning land.
With remarkable intimacy, the film documents the everyday lives of octogenarian Black farmers in rural Georgia — cotton harvesting, chasing cows, dealing with broken machinery and financial precarities. The camera relishes simple moments — conversations through car windows, candy from grandma’s purse, capturing moments of warmth, joy and fulfillment and turning them into striking vignettes that honor the families’ connection to the land and each other.
But the sobering reality underscores the urgency of their story. Black farmers owned 16 million acres of land in 1910 but today, that number has dwindled to a fraction. The farmers in the community struggle to access funding that white farmers nearby seem to secure with ease.
Through these inter-generational stories, Seeds explores the cycles of inequity and embedded racism that persist to this present day, and the signs of hope and renewal with younger generations of farmers.
Seeds won the U.S. Grand Jury Documentary Prize at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.
The screening will feature a special Zoom Q&A with filmmaker Brittany Shyne led by A.D. White Professor-at-Large Keri Putnam.
Free admission and free concessions! Sponsored by the A.D. White Professors-at-Large Program and cosponsored by the Department of Performing & Media Arts.
Courtesy of Cinetic Media. Part of our "New Visions, New Voices," "Doc Spots," and "Campus Collaborations" series.
About the speakers
Brittany Shyne is an independent filmmaker based in Dayton, Ohio. Working in the narrative and non-fiction artform, her work seeks to depict the complexity of everyday life by examining themes such as personal histories, alienation and cultural modernization. Her films lyrically weave together frameworks of race, class, culture, identity and family lineage. She has worked as a cinematographer on films such as THE DEBUTANTES (Tribeca,’24) and Julia Reichert and Steve Bognar’s academy award-winning film AMERICAN FACTORY 美国 工厂. Shyne was the recipient of the 2021 Artist Disruptor Award from the Center of Cultural Power. Her film SEEDS is her first feature documentary. The film has received institutional support from Sundance, Black Public Media, Cinereach, ITVS, IDA, Doc Society’s Threshold Fund, Just Films | Ford Foundation, BAVC, The Flies Collective, The Puffin Foundation, The Points North Institute and SFFILM. Shyne received her MFA in Documentary Media from Northwestern University and a BFA in Motion Pictures from Wright State University.
Keri Putnam is an award-winning media leader and producer, board member, and strategic advisor, who works at the intersection of the creative and business sides of the media and arts fields. In her roles CEO of Sundance Institute (2010-21), President of Production at Miramax (2006-09), and Executive Vice President of HBO (2002-06), Putnam guided strategy and led global creative and production teams to support, develop, finance, and supervise production on a vast array of critically acclaimed work.
Putnam founded Putnam Pictures (2022), a production company dedicated to championing dynamic, transformative storytelling, driven by adventurous vision and that reflect the complexities of the human experience. She also co-founded of ReFrame (2017), a groundbreaking, industry initiative designed to advance gender equity and dismantle systemic barriers in media–in front of and behind the camera–through strategic partnerships, advocacy, and innovative programs.
As CEO of Sundance Institute, Putnam redefined what an artist-centered organization could achieve. Recruited and personally mentored by Oscar-winner and founder of Sundance Institute Robert Redford—who recognized Putnam’s potential despite her non-traditional background—Putnam grew into a leader who embodied the spirit of Sundance. With his encouragement, Putnam embraced bold, creative risk-taking while staying grounded in the Institute’s ethos. Her portfolio included oversight of the annual Sundance Film Festival—one of the most influential platforms for independent storytelling.