The Rosa Luxemburg Foundation Tanzania is excited to announce the screening of The Last Seed, an award-winning film produced by the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung. The first such screening in Tanzania and subsequent discussion about the film is schedule to take place during the forthcoming 2nd Pan African Seed Conference, from 14th – 16th August 2023 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The Conference is expected to bring together more than 80 participants from different regions and countries throughout Africa.
The film itself is an adept attempt by the producer to dig deep into the question of seeds in Africa and unearth the ominous threat facing what – for many generations – used to be a free, basic, but most important resource and input at the root of the entire food value chain – the seed! It exposes the global drive by the corporate sector to try and capture and monopolize seeds through patents and privately owned rights while robbing millions and millions of small holder farmers of their natural right to produce and share seeds freely and openly among themselves through policy and law reforms in many African countries.
The Last Seed challenges us with profound questions for our time: what have we lost and who can show us the path to a more harmonious relationship with our planet? It grapples with the inherent potential and significance of seeds and their foundational role in our food and agricultural systems.
It further outlines some of these points in simple and accessible terms, exploring the narratives of small-scale food producers, alongside the industrial agricultural model which attempts to overrun them, as seen in various African countries.
As the film reaches its crescendo, it leaves us with an uplifting finale: Senegalese women rising up, fueled by unwavering determination to safeguard their seeds and indigenous knowledge for future generations.
The film, shot in three African countries – Senegal, Tanzania and South Africa, is a collaborative effort of the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung (RLS), the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA), PELUM Tanzania and Biowatch South Africa.
Everyone is invited to organize a local screening of the film – be it in your classroom, campus or community, either in-person or virtually. Interested? Please email Refiloe Joala - Producer (refiloe.joala@rosalux.org) or Jan Urhahn – Executive Producer (jan.urhahn@rosalux.org) to get started.
You may also watch The Last Seed official trailer here or learn more about the film itself on the film’s official website https://www.thelastseed.org/.