Written and directed by WY Geng, The Seed of Truth takes inspiration from the true story of the persecution in Soviet Russia of over 3,000 biologists who stood for scientific truth.
The story focuses on Konstantin Vavilov (Dove Meir), a scientist who was arrested and held without trial for the ‘crime’ of not accepting Stalin’s decree on pseudo-science being acceptable (“can an apple become a pear? can you become a plant?”).
In an ambitious 16-minute short, we are placed in both 1952 and in the 2020 Trump administration, where Vavilov’s daughter (Virginia Shannon), now a formidable practitioner and teacher herself, is giving her last lecture. Her father’s story is what she wishes to convey.
Geng’s film covers so much ground in a short space of time, with three clear characterisations of father, daughter, and prison officer (Jordan Liebowitz) who, perhaps, has a pang of guilt about the regime he seems to unquestioningly serve.
Scenes of the young Elena (Charlotte Raith) who seeks truth in the world around her while always honoring her father’s sacrifice, are touching and delicate.
Shannon’s elderly Elena captures “the truth of life,” which continues no matter how you try to silence it or flood it with fake facts (or, indeed, fake news).
Meir’s Konstantin, striving to unconcover the truth about the famine in his country and government policies, and understanding his influence in such an oppressive regime is small, is finely drawn and very effective.
The story stands for the many who were driven to starvation, forced labour or execution because of state-sanctioned misinformation.
It is clear than Geng expects parallels to be drawn with today’s fake messaging culture, although more scenes in the present might underline this further.
The Seed of Truth is out now, and more details on the film can be found here.
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