By: Valerie Milano
Los Angeles, CA (The Hollywood Times) 12/29/2024 – The last several election cycles in the U.S. have continued to reveal an ugly truth – politicians lie. OK, that’s not new information, but we have come to realize that misinformation carries an inherent danger, especially when that disinformation becomes politically expedient for the unscrupulous. Facts may become irrelevant to some and eventually people may accept something as gospel and the truth based on someone’s opinion.
When facts and opinions become thoughtful adversaries on matters of proven scientific research, everyone loses. Writer/director W.Y. Geng shows us the real dangers of this in her short film, “The Seed of Truth.”
Based on historical information, the film explores important themes surrounding the perils of disinformation and the politicization of science. Inspired by a letter a father wrote to his daughter while imprisoned in Gulag, Russia, “The Seed of Truth” vividly brings an emphatic warning to life.
The father was a scientist and dissident in the Soviet Union, whose research exposed tragic truths about the Soviet famine of the early 1930s. This was a particularly difficult time for the Soviet Union under dictator Joseph Stalin as his “Five-Year Plan” pushed to eliminate the private farmer. Forced collectivization, government grain procurement along with a massive movement of investing into heavy industrialization along with crop diseases all occurred. These factors lead to much of the agricultural workforce being eliminated which directly impacted food supplies and resulted in as many as 8.7 million people dying from starvation across the Soviet Union.
In addition, another 50 to 70 million Soviet citizens faced food scarcity during the famine. During this period, Stalin ordered the kulaks (land-owning proprietors) to be liquidated as a class. As collectivization expanded, the persecution of the kulaks increased. This had been ongoing since the Russian Civil War and culminated in a massive campaign of state persecution, including arrests, deportations, and executions.
The father in this story was a victim of the denial of science and executed, and the letter he wrote to his young daughter was discovered many years later. Elena Vasilov, played brilliantly by Virginia Shannon, is now an old woman when she shares the truth about this Soviet tragedy with modern-day scientists as described by her father. It serves to show the perils of politics and ideology intruding into the affairs of science.
Geng spoke with The Hollywood Times recently about her film. She first learned about this story as a teenager in China, but the inspiration for making the film came during the COVID-19 pandemic and the response by the Trump administration which she felt spread dangerous lies.
Click below to see our exclusive interview:
“There was a lot of misinformation globally happening at that time regarding the pandemic and climate change,” Geng said, adding that a New York Times article about the difficulties faced by the scientific community sparked her interest in bringing this film to the screen.
“I think this is an important history lesson,” Geng said, quoting Mark Twain. “He said ‘History never repeats itself, but it often rhymes.’”
Bringing this powerful story to film was particularly challenging when it came to casting. Geng said they chose to cast American actors without requiring them to fake accents, allowing them to speak in their natural voices. This choice was more realistic given production constraints, and the desire for the actors to focus on conveying authentic emotion.
Geng decided that the need for Russian accents would not add significant historical value without becoming annoying after the first 15 minutes. She felt it would’ve been difficult to produce a consistent Russian accent from all actors, so the choice to cast American actors speaking English worked best.
“Because it’s American actors telling a Russian story, it just made good sense,” Geng said. “The most important factor for me as the director when it comes to actors, is that it is more natural to them to put authentic emotions when they speak their natural accent. With a fake accent, all of their energy is put into faking the accent.”
Geng said this choice was especially appreciated by their Russian crew members, who dislike being associated with stereotypical accents.
“The Seed of Truth” was released in March 2024 and was screened at the HollyShorts Film Festival in August to solid reviews. Dove Meir is outstanding as Konstantin Vasilov, the scientist/father and Charlotte Raith puts in an amazing turn as the young Elena.
Rebecca Chu and Lisa Xiaojia joined Geng as the film’s producers, and Ethan Harbour handled the musical score to perfection.
