Sundance 2025: BRIDES; SEEDS; & SUGAR BABIES

My first foray into Sundance 2025’s feature film program includes three drastically different stories: A fictional drama about two best friends on a dangerous road trip, a documentary about the lives and struggles of Black farmers in the American South, and another about a young woman who becomes an online sugar baby. On their faces, Brides, Seeds, and Sugar Babies might not have anything in common, but upon further reflection it can be understood how all are about adversity, whether it be cultural, economic, racial, or a combination. These films are also meant to elicit empathy for and understanding of one’s struggles and efforts (though one you’re much less likely to root for) to either find or maintain a home, a place of belonging. In their own way, these are three powerful films that will doubtlessly be discussed beyond the end of this year’s festivities.

Brides

England, 2014. Muna (Safiyya Ingar) and Doe (Ebada Hassan) are two best friends on their way to the airport. They laugh, they joke, they play “snog, marry, kill” with celebrity chefs while eating fries and milkshakes. At first, nothing seems amiss until you realize these teenage girls are traveling on their own, and they’re avoiding contact with their parents. Where are they heading? To Syria, by way of Türkiye. One way. What’s in Syria? A new life, they hope.

As is typical of the road trip genre, everything that can go wrong will, and this is one trip where we, as viewers, aren’t excited for the destination. In fact, one even might actively root against the girls’ success as strangers (Cemre Ebuzziya and Aziz Çapkurt, who are both delightful in their roles) help them toward their goal. As they continue along, we flashback to days or even years in their past, experiencing their trauma along with them — particularly Doe and her relationship with her mother (Yusra Warsama) — as well as flashing other footage of Muslims around the world and instances of Islamophobia in England.

With a script from Suhayla El-Bushra, director Nadia Fall brings us a daring drama that, even through the girls’ joy and laughter, is clouded with a sense of danger at any given moment. Powered by  a soundtrack including Turkish pop bangers, the undercurrent of the film is tense, almost anxious, as you worry for them and hope that someone, anyone, will stop them. Most of the flashbacks focus on Doe’s past, and though I would’ve liked to have equal depth in Muna’s backstory and motivations, the chemistry between the two is electric and they feel like true friends. This might not be the most relaxing watch this season, but it’s for sure engaging.

Seeds

In contrast to the energy and stress of Brides, Brittany Shyne’s feature film debut feels almost laid-back in comparison. Seeds, a black-and-white documentary, follows Black farmers and their families through vignettes of day-to-day life in the Bible Belt. We’re treated to beautifully crafted shots of calloused hands, toughened by years of working the earth, or cotton being ripped from the plants by a behemoth machine. We follow people through their farms, to the store, back home, and even in their vehicles as they chat around town.

For them, life isn’t made easy. Black farmers have been facing systematic discrimination by agencies such as the Department of Agriculture, which has made it more difficult to get the money they need to keep their farms going while other (white) farmers have no issues. Over a hundred years ago, Black farmers owned 16 million acres; today, it’s down to a fraction of that. These farmers dream of one day passing down the land to their kin, as was done to them by their ancestors. Unfortunately, it gets harder every day to hang onto it.

Though Seeds is a little too slice-of-life for me, it is nonetheless a moving insight into a community that really is the backbone of its region, if not part of the whole country. I found myself wanting for more context and information about the issues with the government and discrimination, but it didn’t detract from the immersion felt by these intimate portraits.

Sugar Babies

These days, it’s hard to make that money. For some, it’s harder, especially post-2020. Down in Louisiana, where the federal minimum wage has stagnated at $7.25 an hour for years, Autumn and her friends pull in hundreds of dollars a day as sugar babies. Through TikTok, Tinder, and other apps, these girls text, livestream, and otherwise virtually communicate with men who willingly send them money, despite the lack of in-person contact.

At first, it was a way to make her tuition quickly after losing her scholarship. Then it quickly ballooned into a full-time job, including teaching classes to other women to help them make money as well. Once the money starts rolling in, they spend it almost as fast as they make it on water parks, skating, parties, sharing a house together, and of course Autumn’s 2019 Dodge Charger. These joyful moments of fast money are paired with the harsh reality of Louisiana’s wages. From 2016 to 2023, Louisiana Governor John Edwards has attempted to raise the minimum wage and is voted down. Even as elected officials in the state are voting to raise their own salaries.

Director Rachel Fleit succeeds in taking a delicate approach to the film. She doesn’t allow the camera to shy away from difficult questions or questionable actions, but she doesn’t exploit the documentary’s subjects or seemingly edit their performances to fit a certain narrative. For all their talk and cunning, these are young kids, hustling to get by in a world that won’t make it easy for them.

Check out more of Film Inquiry’s Sundance 2025 coverage here!