European eco-settlers released on Youtube a unique project – a series of 40 short films “From Seed to Seed.”
This series allows anyone to learn how to produce vegetable seeds. It provides the basics of theory and practice, an “alphabet” of seed production, and shows all the necessary steps for producing seeds of 40 vegetable species.
The movies “From Seed to Seed” were created by Longo May and the Civique Européen Forum (European Citizens’ Forum). These two European associations are actively involved in the conservation of agricultural biodiversity and advocate for the defense of open-pollinated seeds.
About movies team
The directors
Martina Widmer and Sylvie Seguin are both members of the European Civic Forum and the Longo Maï cooperative in Limans, Forcalquier in southeast France. They have many years of experience in producing seeds.
Director, camera, editing
Olga Widmer has worked in documentary cinema for many years. She has directed documentaries on different topics (agriculture, migration, handicaps).
Drawings and animated drawings
Myleine Guiard-Schmid creates drawings and animated drawings for the cinema and also practices the visual arts. The arts like cinema, sculpture, painting are her passion and profession. She says that art undeniably reveals, tells stories, or denounces with beauty and style.
The film producers
Longo maï was founded in 1973. It is made up of nine self-managed cooperative farms in Europe. They produce and process a wide variety of local cereal and vegetable crops. All of the cooperatives produce part of their own seeds and organize regular seed swaps, thereby helping to increase interest in such varieties and encouraging more people to produce their own seeds.
The European Civic Forum is an international solidarity network active, among others, in defense of open-pollinated seeds and small-scale farming that respects social rights.
Another way of supporting project is organizing a public screening of the films, making seed-saving know-how available to everyone. The movies are under the Creative Commons license which means that they can be shown in public without any financial compensation.
If you wish to translate the movie into a new language, please contact the authors by email: info@diyseeds.org
The authors advise everybody to produce beautiful seeds and exchange them with your neighbors and friends, seeds to give away and spread anywhere they’re needed. They’re some of the most precious gifts a traveler can offer!
You may read about the global food system driving environmental injustice and increasing greenhouse gas emissions here.
