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 series begins with Jumana Manna's Wild Relatives (2018), tracing the intricate journey of seed distribution from Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley to the global seed vault in Norway’s Svalbard archipelago. The program is followed by a discussion with Nina Raj, founder and steward of Altadena Seed Library, as we talk about seed banking, the importance of biodiversity, and the vital role our community plays in restoring local ecosystems.

The subsequent two installments, scheduled for Winter 2025 and Spring 2026, feature artist-curated films that engage with this expansive framework. Each screening will be accompanied by a discussion between the artist and an invited guest speaker.

Deep in the earth beneath the Arctic permafrost, seeds from all over the world are stored in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault to provide a backup should disaster strike. Wild Relatives starts from an event that has sparked media interest worldwide: in 2012 an international agricultural research center was forced to relocate from Aleppo to Lebanon due to the Syrian Revolution turned war, and began a laborious process of planting their seed collection from the Svalbard back-ups. Following the path of this transaction of seeds between the Arctic and Lebanon, a series of encounters unfold a matrix of human and non-human lives between these two distant spots of the earth. It captures the articulation between this large-scale international initiative and its local implementation in the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon, carried out primarily by young migrant women. The meditative pace patiently teases out tensions between state and individual, industrial and organic approaches to seed saving, climate change and biodiversity, witnessed through the journey of these seeds.

Jumana Manna is a visual artist and filmmaker based in Jerusalem and Berlin. Her work explores how power is articulated, focusing on the body, land and materiality in relation to colonial inheritances and histories of place. Through sculpture, filmmaking, and occasional writing, Manna deals with the paradoxes of preservation practices, particularly within the fields of architecture, agriculture and law. Her practice considers the tension between the modernist traditions of categorisation and conservation and the unruliness of ruination, life and its regeneration. Manna is Moving Image Associate Chair at Bard's MFA program, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. She was previously a visiting lecturer at Harvard University, the Academy of Fine Arts Munich, and has taught at Homeworks Space Program, Beirut and Birzeit University, Palestine.

Altadena Seed Library is a growing network that offers seed exchange boxes alongside educational and conservation resources. By distributing free seeds, the organization aims to expand equitable access to shade and green spaces, increase food sovereignty, foster community connections, and restore local ecosystems. In the wake of the Eaton Fire, Altadena Seed Library is providing free seeds and seed education to affected residents, remediating toxic soils, and working to establish conservation seed banks throughout the region. While Altadena Seed Library facilitates long-term seed conservation through decentralized seed banking, its little free seed libraries are designed as dynamic, living resources that can operate autonomously when maintained by their communities. To build stewardship capacity, Altadena Seed Library offers various educational resources, including videos, zines, and workshops.

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.

In lieu of purchasing a ticket for the screening, we are asking all attendees to make a donation to The Sameer Project. This Palestinian-led initiative is dedicated to providing tents, medical aid, and clean water to displaced families in Gaza, while operating community kitchens to feed those in need. A donation receipt is required for entry, though because capacity is limited, RSVPs are required as well. To learn more about The Sameer Project and to donate, click here.