Seeds of Time, a documentary about seed saving, will be screened at The Athena Cinema at 7 p.m., Wednesday.
The Spring Sustainability Series at The Athena Cinema discusses different aspects of the environment through film. Previous films have examined fossil fuels, transportation and the use of plastic. The newest film in the series will focus on agriculture.
The fifth film in The Athena Cinema's, 20 S. Court St., Spring Sustainability Series, will be a documentary about these growing problems. Seeds of Time will be shown at 7 p.m., Wednesday.
Seeds of Time shows the importance of preserving crops by saving seeds after they are harvested. One way to save seeds is by creating a seed bank. In the film, one person goes around the world and collects different types of seeds to put in a vault.
Alexandra Kamody, the director of the Athena, said the theater does a sustainability series every fall and spring. She said the Sustainability Series is compatible with the theater’s mission to educate, entertain and engage the audience.
“We show films that otherwise wouldn’t be seen on the big screen,” Kamody said. “We’re showing documentary films that educate, and we’re engaging (the audience).”
Kamody said the theater sees a “wide range” of people — students, community members and different activists groups — for the sustainability screenings.
Along with the screening of Seeds of Time, there will be a panel discussion. One person sitting on the panel is Paul Patton, assistant professor of anthropology and food studies.
Patton, the director of the archaeological field school, said he will be talking about agricultural biodiversity. Agricultural biodiversity relates to the differences in a variety of crops.
“We are losing varieties of crops that grow in certain climates,” Patton said. “Seed banks really work at preserving agrobiodiversity.”
Patton said it is important for people in this area to become aware of the “critical” problems surrounding agriculture.
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Lorain McCosker, the coordinator of the common experience project on sustainability, plays a part in choosing the films for the Sustainability Series. McCosker said she chooses films that have been featured at environmental film festivals and reviews them.
“We try to (choose) all different films — we don’t want to focus on one issue,” she said.
McCosker said “food is so critical to the environment,” which is one reason this documentary was chosen to be a part of the Sustainability Series.
“If we lose that source of food, we will be threatening our food supply — and that’s what the movie is about,” she said.
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