Active Cultures and Now Instant present Seeds, a three-part cinematic meditation on new beginnings, hidden power, and pivotal transformation.
Seeds are more than sources of nourishment. They hold ancestral memory: essential for preserving biodiversity, food sovereignty, and cultural heritage, resisting colonial displacement and destruction. These tiny vessels are also powerful symbols. Moving beyond the botanical, this artist-led film series delves into life's eternal cycles, the strength of resilience, the wonder of germination, and the quiet wisdom found in dormancy.
The third and final film in the Seeds series is Agnes Varda’s The Gleaners and I (2000), selected by artist Clarissa Tossin. The screening will be followed by a conversation with Clarissa on seeds toward the end of their cycle, touching on food waste, and what industrial agriculture considers unfit for display.
The Gleaners and I
Agnès Varda’s extraordinary late-career renaissance began with this wonderfully idiosyncratic, self-reflexive documentary in which the ever-curious French cinema icon explores the little-known world of modern-day gleaners: those living on the margins who survive by foraging for that which society throws away. Embracing the intimacy and freedom of digital filmmaking, Varda posits herself as a kind of gleaner of images and ideas, one whose generous, expansive vision makes room for ruminations on everything from aging to the birth of cinema to the beauty of heart-shaped potatoes. By turns playful, philosophical, and subtly political, The Gleaners and I is a warmly human reflection on the contradictions of our consumerist world from an artist who, like her subjects, finds unexpected richness where few think to look.
Clarissa Tossin works across moving-image, installation, sculpture, weaving, body prints, and collaborative research. Her practice is deeply engaged with ecological thinking and geographies defined by systems of colonization and extraction.
Active Cultures is a public arts nonprofit in Los Angeles that explores the intersection of art, food, and ecologies through artist-led projects and programs.
Please note: seating is limited. Doors open thirty minutes prior to the listed showtime. Your RSVP does not guarantee you a seat. Seating is first-come, first-served.