Wright State alum Brittany Shyne wins top documentary prize at Sundance Film Festival

“Seeds,” by Brittany Shyne, who graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Motion Pictures from Wright State, won the U.S. Grand Jury Prize for Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival.

Brittany Shyne, a Dayton-based filmmaker and Wright State University motion pictures alum, won the prestigious U.S. Grand Jury Prize for Documentary at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival for her debut film, “Seeds.”

The documentary, an intimate exploration of Black intergenerational farmers in the American South, captivated Sundance audiences and film critics with its emotional storytelling and evocative black-and-white cinematography.

In its award announcement, the Sundance jury called Shyne a “new voice with something powerful, rich and poignant to say.”

“From its directing, cinematography and dreamlike immersion, this film takes us deep inside an essentially overlooked pocket of our country, whose residents struggle to hold onto their heritage as their way of life has come under threat,” the Sundance jury citation said. “The fact that this is the filmmaker’s feature debut speaks to the arrival of an exciting new talent in documentary.”

For Shyne, the recognition culminated nearly a decade of work.

“I’ve been on such a long journey with this film,” she said. “You never know with your first film. There are so many ups and downs — it’s like a rollercoaster. The fact that the film has been received in such a way is still a lot for me to process.”

Shyne described her Sundance experience as “a whirlwind,” noting that “Seeds” premiered just two weeks after she finished post-production. She is grateful for how audiences have responded to the film, noting that many people approached her during the festival to share their stories of family farming.

“That level of openness has been really nice and really unexpected,” she said.

“Seeds” follows Black farmers in Georgia and Mississippi, including the Williams family, who have maintained their land since 1883, and activist farmer Willie Head Jr., who works to ensure his grandchildren have a place they can return to.

As Shyne worked on the film, she realized she was also documenting the final stages of life of the elderly farmers who appear in “Seeds.”

“I knew these stories would disappear if I didn’t document them,” she said. “The film was always about preservation and cultural heritage.”

Shyne drew inspiration from her family history — sharecroppers in Mississippi on her mother’s side and a great-grandfather who owned land in Louisiana on her father’s side.

“I always wanted to tell a story about land ownership, but not just the strife or the political plights, but also the understanding of how land can be a sanctuary, how it can be a refuge,” she said.

Willie Head Jr. is one of the farmers featured in Brittany Shyne’s “Seeds.” (Photo courtesy of Brittany Shyne)

One of the most remarked-upon aspects of “Seeds” is its striking black-and-white cinematography, capturing the leisurely pace and place of the elderly farmers’ lives.

“The first time I went to Thomasville, Georgia, there was just something so very special about this place, so very archaic, seeing old farming equipment, seeing old churches and red dirt roads,” she said.

As an independent filmmaker, Shyne wore many hats on “Seeds,” serving as the director, primary cinematographer and sound recordist. While this presented challenges, it also forced her to rely on her filmmaking instincts.

“When you’re traveling by yourself, it can be very isolating and alienating because you really have to be your own cheerleader,” she said. “But I think in some ways too, it helped me because it made me more instinctive, and it made me push myself further.”

Shyne plans to screen “Seeds” at more film festivals this year, with her next stop at the True/False Film Fest in Missouri at the end of February.

She also wants to screen the documentary for communities that resonate with its themes in the rural South.

Shyne, who graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Motion Pictures from Wright State, credits the program with giving her the confidence to pursue a career as a filmmaker.

“Wright State was my introduction to the film world,” she said.

While she was initially more interested in fiction works, Shyne said motion picture faculty members, including Steven Bognar and the late Julia Reichart, instilled in her the fortitude and focus to work on documentaries.

After graduating, Shyne worked with Reichart and Bognar on the Oscar-winning “American Factory,” and a documentary on comedian Dave Chappelle.

“Wright State is such a great institution for filmmakers, especially Midwest filmmakers,” Shyne said, “and I’ll always be thankful for that.”

Octogenarian Carlie Williams is another farmer featured in “Seeds.” (Photo courtesy of Brittany Shyne)