Seed Stories

About the Film

In a village in the Niyamgiri mountains of Odisha's Eastern Ghats, a heroic effort is underway: barefoot ecologist Dr. Debal Deb and his 3 member-team are conserving over a thousand 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 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 agrochemicals. ‘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?’

About the Director

Chitrangada Choudhury's reportage on issues of the environment and human rights has been named for multiple national and international journalism awards. She is on the Editorial Board of Article 14, an award-winning digital outlet dedicated to issues of law, justice and the constitution.