Description: Seed:
The Untold Story reveals the harrowing and heartening drama of
seeds. With ninety-four percent of our seed varieties extinct, Seed reveals a David and Goliath battle for our future. Seed: The
Untold Story follows passionate seed keepers protecting our
12,000 year-old food legacy. 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. These reluctant heroes rekindle a lost
connection to our most treasured resource and revive a culture
connected to seeds.
Biography: Taggart
Siegel has produced and
directed award-winning documentaries for the last thirty years. QUEEN
THE SUN: What Are the Bees Telling Us? received critical-acclaim during its theatrical and broadcast
release and garnered over ten international awards. Real
Dirt on Farmer John (2006, PBS Independent Lens) tells the story of a maverick visionary
farmer and it was winner of thirty-one international film festivals
awards. Siegel is also known for his PBS films, including ITVS
Independent Lens SPLIT
HORN: Life of a Hmong Shaman in America and Chicago emmy-nominated Between
Two Worlds about a Hmong
Shaman documented over fifteen years. Blue
Collar and Buddha captures the struggles of Laotian Buddhist refugees. Heart
Broken in Half is a film
about Chicago gangs. Additionally, he is the director of feature
length fiction film Shadow
of the Pepper Tree and Body Memories.
Siegel was the producer and cinematographer for the National
Geographic film Disenchanted
Forest about orangutans
in Borneo, narrated by Brooke Shields. He recently completed a short
documentary about Tibetan spiritual teacher Lady Palmo with the Dalai
Lama. He is the executive director of Collective Eye Films, a
non-profit media production and distribution organization.
Jon
Betz is an award-winning
documentary filmmaker. He was the producer and editor for the
multi-award winning QUEEN
OF THE SUN: What Are the Bees Telling Us? His previous film, Memorize
You Saw It, is an
intimate autobiographical documentary journaling his time as an aid
worker living with former-child soldiers in Eastern Uganda. Betz
recently co-directed a short documentary about Tibetan spiritual
teacher Lady Palmo with the Dalai Lama. Betz’s films strive to dig
deeply into spiritual, emotional and ethical issues and bring
pressing social and environmental issues to the screen. Betz is a
graduate from Rhode Island School of Design. He is the director of
Collective Eye, Inc. a nonprofit media production and distribution
organization.
