Another solid Canadian feature at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival is SEEDS, the latest work from filmmaker Kaniehtiio Horn, no stranger to Canadian and American cinema.
The TIFF Lowdown: Kaniehtiio Horn (Alice, Darling, TIFF ’22) wrote, directed, and stars in Seeds, a tense thriller that weaves Kanienʼkehá꞉ka connections to the land with a cat-and-mouse game.
Imparting lessons of Kanienʼkehá:ka food sovereignty within a campy revenge thriller, Kaniehtiio Horn’s feature directorial debut takes viewers on a ride unlike any other. In Seeds, Horn (Alice, Darling) plays Ziggy, a Toronto-based bike courier and budding influencer. Just as she lands a new client, a seed and fertilizer company called Nature’s Oath, and starts making content for them, she’s called back to her community to house sit for her aunt.
Reaction: SEEDS is a very exciting and memorable new feature from the ever-so-talented Kanihtiio (Tito) Horn, a woman I met on the film fest circuit many years ago and was immediately impressed by her passion and drive to share her stories with people. Her new movie is a passion project that makes you instantly love her from the opening scene with a social media satire and influencers, but then becomes a strong movie where she returns to her home town and gets wound up in a controversy involving the company she signed with. I got kind of a SMOKE SIGNALS vibe (that movie itself was brought back to attention with the HEY, VIKTOR sequel at TIFF 2023) with her colourful cast of characters, and she has such love for everyone here, warts and all. There’s also a really funny cameo by Graham Greene in here who is always a welcome presence, and he has some of the funniest moments. SEEDS takes a dark turn in its last act but I still loved how it still kept its humour intact, even if a bit dark (and somewhat graphic). Short and sweet at only 82 minutes, Horn’s movie has a really good subject with solid social commentary but is also very entertaining and well made that I hope it finds a small but notable theatrical release in Canada and at film festivals.
Thanks to TIFF Media for assistance with this reaction article. This is one of the many movies playing at TIFF this year. For more information, point your browser to www.tiff.net!
