Planting Seeds highlights three seminal films from the avant-garde tradition which have directly influenced generations of queer film­ makers. Though made under very different circumstances, these films show an uncanny relationship to each other on a formal level. Through fragmentation, chiaroscuro lighting, and a symbolic use of gestures, objects, and space, these works point to a sort of excess which has become a hallmark in queer cinema.

While Meshes of the Afternoon contends with a woman's disequilibrium at an erotic, violent fantasy in her home, Lot in Sodom actually revels in a similar state in an exotic clime. As one critic wrote, "The townsfolk are luridly painted queens and handsome young men who all leap and writhe about as if in permanent sexual play." And Cocteau's Blood of a Poet is quite simply one of the most unforgettable films ever made.