Film Screening – March 3rd and 4th: “Seed Stories”

Synopsis: In a village in the Niyamgiri mountains of Odisha’s Eastern Ghats, a heroic effort is underway: barefoot ecologist Dr. Debal Deb and his three member team are conserving in-situ over 1000 endangered heirloom varieties of rice. Odisha’s Eastern Ghats region is one of the world’s surviving biodiversity hotspots, with Adivasi (Indigenous) communities like the Kondhs possessing the knowledge of growing multiple crops with their folk seeds, evolved over centuries. At the same time, the village and the wider region is irreversibly changing with the coming of genetically modified cotton seeds and associated chemicals. ‘Seed Stories’ takes a worm’s eye view of how this is reshaping a geography and a people steeped in agro-ecological knowledge, and altering their attitudes towards farming, food and ecology. It invites audiences to reflect on the question, ‘What is sustainability?’