Film by the acclaimed director Markus Imhoof. This is a film investigating the issues surrounding the plight of the honey bee.
Scientists have found a name for the phenomenon that matches its scale, “colony collapse disorder,” and they have good reason to be worried: 80% of plant species require bees to be pollinated. Without bees, there is no pollinization, and fruits and vegetables could disappear from the face of the Earth. Apis mellifera (the honey bee), which appeared on Earth 60 million years before man and is as indispensable to the economy as it is to man’s survival.
Should we blame pesticides or even medication used to combat them? Maybe look at parasites such as varroa mites? New viruses? Travelling stress? The multiplication of electromagnetic waves disturbing the magnetite nanoparticles found in the bees’ abdomen? So far, it looks like a combination of all these agents has been responsible for the weakening of the bees’ immune defenses.
My goal wasn’t to shoot a global film that would go at top speed from one place to the next, but rather to take the time to get to know and understand the different protagonists – most of them, beekeepers. All of them expressed their personal opinions. Even if they inspire or suggest a number of broader themes, we mainly sought to get to know them as human beings. We observed their daily work, took their existential anguish quite seriously and suffered with them when yet another bee colony disappeared or had to be destroyed. – Markus Imhoof, Director