Honeyland

Europe's last keeper of wild bees lives in harmony with nature until her existence is thrown off the rails by new neighbours. As far as documentaries go, this is the bee's knees. For good reason, the film was showered with awards, including two Academy Award nominations for Best Foreign Film and Best Documentary and three awards at Sundance. Hatidze, a woman in her fifties, lives in a remote village in Macedonia. She breeds wild bee colonies in handmade baskets hidden among rocks. Without protection or help, she manages to tame the bees in order to harvest their honey and sell it in the capital. Hatidze has a good life - until new neighbors move in near the beehives and disturb her peace and that of her bees. Just as worker bees spend their entire lives caring for the queen bee, Hatidze has dedicated her life to caring for her mother, with whom she lives in a hut. The arrival of the newcomers, a family with seven noisy children and 150 cows, leads to a conflict that could destroy Hatidze's way of life forever. Apart from awards at Sundance and the Academy Award nominations, HONEYLAND also won: - Best Camera, International Documentary Association - Pare Lorentz Award, International Documentary Association - Film Critics Circle Awards in Vancouver, New York and Boston - US National Society of Film Critics Award