In One Man Dies a Million Times, a “true story, set in the future,” two young botanists who work at the Institute of Plant Genetic Resources commit themselves to tending seeds meant to sustain future populations while contending with the present reality of mass starvation. Emerging from a process of historical research, artistic imagination, and botanical concern, filmmaker Jessica Oreck draws the film’s narrative from the diaries of seed bank workers living in the Siege of Leningrad (1941–1944), a harrowing period from the past that is transmuted into a near-future tense with timeless and searing black-and-white imagery from acclaimed cinematographer Sean Price Williams. 

Introducing the film at The Block’s Thursday, March 7 screening, seed bank researcher Sarah Hollis observed the expansive implications of seed banking. Hollis is earning her M.S. in Plant Biology and Conservation at Northwestern University and the Chicago Botanic Garden, where she serves as research assistant for the Dixon National Tallgrass Prairie Seed Bank.  

“I want to encourage you to think of saving seeds not only as an act of prudence and foresight, but an act of rebellion and hope,” she said. 

The film takes place at what is now known as the NI Vavilov Research Institute of Plant Industry in St. Petersburg, Russia, founded in the 1920s by its namesake, the Russian botanist Nikolai Vavilov. The bank in the film is primarily concerned with storing the seeds of agricultural species, but other banks, like the Dixon National Tallgrass Prairie Seed Bank, focus on conserving the seeds of rare and endangered species.  

Watch the Introduction

“Along the way, from collecting to cleaning, counting, checking viability and packaging seeds, we’re building a relationship with these seeds. And this relationship with seeds is what I would say is most important to me in my work. When I talk with people about working in a seed bank, the image that comes to mind for many people is a cold, industrial facility in a far off location, where seeds are squirreled away for an apocalyptic future. I’ve even heard the phrase ‘doomsday vault’ be used at times. But I think that this doesn’t capture the vibrancy of a seed bank; a seed bank is full of potential, when we get the opportunity to grow out seeds that have been in the seed bank, it is so joyful to watch them grow and develop.”  

Sarah Hollis

About the speaker:

Sarah Hollis is a research assistant at the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Dixon National Tallgrass Prairie Seed Bank. She is passionate about connecting people with the environment by fostering relationships with seeds. Sarah is earning her M.S. in Plant Biology and Conservation at Northwestern University and the Chicago Botanic Garden. Her research interests include conservation and restoration seed bank infrastructure and best practices and BIPOC traditional ecological knowledge in restoration.