Last year we screened Foragers, by Berlin-based Palestinian filmmaker Jumana Manna, at the Warme Meente; now we present Wild Relatives. A contemplativefilm about seeds, migration, and the fragile connections between humans and the landscape.  

Deep beneath the Arctic permafrost, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault stores millions of seeds as insurance against global disasters. When the war in Syria forcedan international agricultural research center out of Aleppo in 2012, a remarkable return began: stored seeds were retrieved and replanted in the Bekaa Valley.  

Wild Relatives follows this circulation of seeds between the far north and the Middle East, gradually unfolding a network of human and non-human relationships. What at first glance appears to be a technical and large-scale initiative takes on a very different dimension in its local implementation—carried out by young migrant women who cultivate the land and bring the seeds back to life.  

In a contemplative rhythm, the film brings to light tensions between global systems and individual lives, between industrial agriculture and organic practices, between urgency and care. Through the journey of the seeds, a poignant reflection emerges on climate change, biodiversity, and the political reality of food production.  

Wild Relatives is a quiet yet powerful observation of how something seemingly small—a seed—reveals global connections.