films - documentaries
Seeds of Time
Sandy McLeod | US | 2013 | 76 min | English spoken | no subtitlesVoorstelling 1: Saturday 10 May 16:00 | MC Theaterzaal
Voorstelling 2: Sunday 11 May 11:30 | KH 2 + 3
The diversity of edible crops is declining rapidly and putting the future of our food at risk. But who is responsible for biodiversity and who owns the seeds? American scientist Cary Fowler stays out of the discussion and gets on with the work. His ‘Doomsday Vault’ is an enormous facility for storing and preserving all the world’s crop seeds.
Agricultural industrialisation, climate change as well as loss of knowledge about agriculture and nature mean that crop diversity has decreased by 93% compared to a century ago. Without assigning blame, the dedicated Fowler set about collecting seeds and storing them safely in an enormous basement freezer in Spitsbergen, Norway.
Can human intervention save diversity? In Seeds of Time, we follow Fowler’s personal journey to seeds banks in Russia and Norway and during conversations with his colleagues at the Global Crop Diversity Trust in Rome. Besides freezing and storing, a living seed bank is one of the options. With Fowler’s assistance, a group of Peruvian farmers has reintroduced old varieties of potatoes in an area where hundreds of varieties once grew. By doing so, they are also keeping important rituals and traditions alive.
Seeds of Time has been selected for the FFF Feature-Length Food Film Competition 2014.
Note: On Saturday 10 May, the film is part of the debate with OneWorld. If you only want to see the film, please go to the screening on Sunday morning.
"Seeds of Time" Trailer from Hungry, Inc. on Vimeo.
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