''Bitter Seeds'' is a 2011
documentary film
A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...
by American filmmaker and
director
Director may refer to:
Literature
* ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine
* ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker
* ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty
Music
* Director (band), an Irish rock band
* ''D ...
and
political commentator
A pundit is a person who offers mass media opinion or commentary on a particular subject area (most typically politics, the social sciences, technology or sport).
Origins
The term originates from the Sanskrit term ('' '' ), meaning "knowledg ...
Micha Peled. The film is the third part of Peled's globalization trilogy after ''
Store Wars: When Wal-Mart Comes to Town'' (2001) and ''
China Blue'' (2005).
Synopsis
Micha Peled's documentary on biotech (Bt) farming in
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
observes the impact of genetically modified cotton on India's farmers, with a suicide rate of over a quarter million
Bt cotton
Bt cotton is a genetically modified pest resistant plant cotton variety, which produces an insecticide to combat bollworm.
Description
Strains of the bacterium '' Bacillus thuringiensis'' produce over 200 different Bt toxins, each harmful to ...
farmers each year due to financial stress resulting from massive crop failure and the price of Monsanto's Bt seeds. The film also disputes claims by the biotech industry that Bt cotton requires less pesticide and promises of higher yields, as farmers discover that Bt cotton requires more pesticide than organic cotton, and often suffer higher levels of infestation by
Mealybug resulting in devastating crop losses, and financial and psychological stress on cotton farmers. Due to the biotech seed monopoly in India, where Bt cotton seed has become the standard, and organic seed has become unobtainable, thus pressuring cotton farmers into signing Bt cotton seed purchase agreements with biotech
multinational corporation
A multinational company (MNC), also referred to as a multinational enterprise (MNE), a transnational enterprise (TNE), a transnational corporation (TNC), an international corporation or a stateless corporation with subtle but contrasting senses, i ...
Monsanto
The Monsanto Company () was an American agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation founded in 1901 and headquartered in Creve Coeur, Missouri. Monsanto's best known product is Roundup, a glyphosate-based herbicide, developed in ...
.
Reception
Leslie Hassler in the ''
Huffington Post'' called ''Bitter Seeds'' riveting and poignant, though in places incredibly painful to watch.
Awards
The documentary has won 18 international film awards,
including the Green Screen Award (2011)
and the Oxfam Global Justice Award (2011).
References
External links
*
*
2011 films
2011 documentary films
American independent films
American documentary films
Documentary films about agriculture
Films shot in India
Documentary films about India
Documentary films about globalization
Works about Monsanto
2011 independent films
2010s English-language films
2010s American films
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