Film Screening + Panel Discussion | “SEEDS” + a preview of “Copper Boyz”

“Just in time for Earth month, join us Tuesday, April 21, for a free community film screening of the highly-acclaimed documentary SEEDS, a portrait of centennial farmers in the geographical south, directed by Brittany Shyne. Using lyrical black and white imagery, this meditative film examines the decline of generational black farmers and the significance of owning land.

Before this special screening, MoCADA will also preview an excerpt from Copper Boyz, Collin Riggins’ riveting full-length documentary about a group of cowboys who ride around Kansas City, engaging with community members and introducing youth to horsemanship. Guided by an ethos of violence prevention, they fundamentally reimagine what it means to be a cowboy and steward and, in turn, invite us to do the same.

The screenings will be followed by a panel discussion on the generative practices of land ownership, stewardship, and cultivation, and more . Panelists include Sabrina Schmidt Gordon (Producer, SEEDS) and Collin Riggins (Director, Copper Boyz) in conversation with DeVonne Jackson Perez.

** Bonus: Attendees of the event will receive complementary bags of fresh food from our partners, Brooklyn Supported Agriculture (@brooklynsupportedagriculture), a Black-led Worker-Owned. Farmer-Focused community supported agriculture collective. Food bags will be distributed on a first come, first serve basis while supplies last.

WHAT: Film Screening | SEEDS + a preview of Copper Boyz, followed by a panel discussion
WHEN: Tuesday, April 21 @ 6:45 pm – 10:00 pm
WHERE: MoCADA Culture Lab II, 10 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn, 11217

RSVP

This film screening was made possible thanks to generous support from the Brooklyn Supported Agriculture and NYC Coalition for Theaters of Color in partnership with NYC Department of Cultural Affairs (@NYCulture) and NYC Council.

ABOUT THE FILM

SEEDS 
Director: Brittany Shyne
Running Time: 2hours 3 minutes (123 minutes)
(USA, 2025)
IG: @seedsthedoc

Interweaving the stories of three Black generational farmers to create a collective and intimate portrait of farming today, SEEDS is a moving and powerful exploration of their lives, joys and struggles as well as the fragility of legacy and owning land.

With remarkable intimacy, the film documents their everyday lives – cotton harvesting, chasing cows, dealing with broken machinery and financial precarities. The camera relishes simple moments – conversations through car windows, candy from grandma’s purse as it captures moments of warmth, joy and fulfillment – turning them into striking vignettes that honor the families’ connection to the land and each other.

But the sobering reality underscores the urgency of their story. Black farmers owned 16 million acres of land in 1910 but today, that number has dwindled to a fraction. The farmers in the community struggle to access funding that white farmers nearby seem to secure with ease.

Through these inter-generational stories, we see the cycles of inequity and embedded racism that persist to this present day, and the signs of hope and renewal with younger generations of farmers. SEEDS emphasizes how human beings are innately tied to our foundational roots, roots which carry our ancestral memories – somber, bitter, and sweet.

ABOUT THE PANELISTS + MODERATOR

Sabrina Schmidt Gordon (IG: @sabbygnyc) is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and impact strategist from New York City. Since her Emmy-winning editing debut, Sabrina has distinguished herself as a leading voice in the field as a producer, editor and director. She is a Women at Sundance Fellow, recipient of the Dear Producer Award recognizing excellence in independent filmmaking, the Reel Sisters Trailblazer Award, and a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). Through her production company, Vespertine Films, her work continues to amplify marginalized and unique voices, push creative boundaries, and illuminate issues that impact our global society. Sabrina is the producer of many critically-acclaimed films, including the Sundance films QUEST, TO THE END, and 2024 Emmy winner VICTIM/SUSPECT. Sabrina’s feature directing debut, which she also co-produced and edited, is the Emmy nominated BADDDDD SONIA SANCHEZ, for which she won the ADFF Best Director Award. She is the producer and editor of both HIP-HOP: BEYOND BEATS AND RHYMES, a Sundance premiere named on MSNBC’s 10 Most Important Black Films of the Decade, and DOCUMENTED, which had record-breaking viewership on CNN. Other credits include Peabody Award winner BELLY OF THE BEAST, CUSP, and BLACK GIRLS which was also in competition at Sundance this year in the BrandStorytelling section. Sabrina is a sought after panelist, consultant, mentor, film juror, and is a recognized fieldbuilder as president of the Black Documentary Collective and member of Brown Girls Doc Mafia.

Collin Riggins (IG: @c.riggs) is an analog photographer and filmmaker from Kansas City, Missouri. He received a B.A. inAfrican American Studies and Visual Arts from Princeton University. Collin creates work that is animated by his own family histories, which stretch from Missouri, to the Carolinas, to New York. As the proud son of sharecroppers, teachers, and dancers, Collin seeks to express the depth and beauty of African American heritage and celebrate the ways we have passed down a rich spirit of resilience across time. He ultimately hopes to produce an enlivened archive that his family and found family alike can feel gratified to exist within, and that envisions African American heritage as a living, diasporic continuum. In addition to his personal practice, Collin is interested in contributing to efforts that expand access to the arts, such as co founding IMAG(in)E, a free film photography program for high schoolers in the Bronx.

DeVonne Jackson Perez (IG: @ItsOnWithDeVonne) is a story collector, farmer, and food systems leader in NYS. With training from Cornell University’s Small Farms Program and Farm School NYC and a Master’s in Communications and Media Management her work lives at the intersection of culture, agriculture, and afro diasporic liberation, which has brought her to farms from Trinidad to Uganda, and from Argyle to Ithaca. As Consulting Director of Brooklyn Supported Agriculture, co-founder of Good Ground Farm, and founder of Sound Bites Communications, she cultivates pathways for Black farmers and food businesses to be seen, heard, and sustained. Recognized nationally for her impact and voted 40 Under 40 in Food Policy in 2025, she brings both reverence and curiosity to every space she holds, centering land stewards, honoring lineage, and inviting us all to remember what it means to be in right relationship with the land and with each other.”