This week, Murray State's Cinema International presents More Than Honey, called the Citizen Kane of bee documentaries. Program director Dr. Thérèse St. Paul speaks to Tracy Ross about the documentary.
From the MSU Cinema International website:
"Oscar-nominated director Markus Imhoof tackles the urgent issue of why bees, worldwide, are facing extinction and investigates this global phenomenon, from California to Switzerland, China, and Australia.
Exquisite macro-photography of the bees (reminiscent of Microcosmos) in flight and their hives reveals a fascinating, complex world in crisis. Imhoof's camera's magnifying power renders the life of the best in sci-fi terms, reminiscent of David Cronenberg's The Fly."
"The fact that bees are disappearing has been known for a while," St. Paul begins. "It is attributed to a mysterious disease. People like to say that the cause is unknown. [This documentary] is looking at exactly that—the causes. There's not just one. I think this movie is a wake-up call for all of us to stop sticking our head in the sand."
"This documentary's not shying away from realities of how Big Ag, big businesses, treats bees these days," St. Paul continues. "They compare it with bees that have been left alone to live in nature in the Alps, for instance. [It shows] that even these secluded areas are under attack. The effect of this is a worldwide phenomenon."
St. Paul explains that there are many causes of bee populations dwindling. One is mass food production, which transports bees across the country to pollinate year-round. Another is the use of pesticides and fungicides within mass food production.
"More causes of death are the fact that, just like we engineer food, humans tamper with the production of bees so they can sell the queens, the hives, and they ship them like they would ship a toy or something. That stresses the bees."
"In nature, bees have a lot of wisdom," St. Paul says. "They are very intelligent creatures. They can communicate. They select their best bees, their best queens. If man tampers with that, the weak queens get selected. The natural reproduction and society of the bees get disrupted. So, they're weakened."
"There are some suggestions as to why are the bees taking this? Why are they just not fighting back? They actually are," she continues.
The documentary covers killer bees, a new, more aggressive generation of bees. "They are fighting back. They sting. It seems like if [the bees] are to survive, it's the feral bees that will. Though they sting, they do produce good honey. They're very resistant, and they don't want to be tampered with. They suggest—and this is possibly true in this documentary—they are going to be the survivor bees."
MSU Cinema International presents another screening of More Than Honey on Saturday, October 30th, at 7:30 pm in the Curris Center Theater, located on the third floor of the Curris Center.
For more information on the MSU Cinema International program, including upcoming screenings and how to donate, visit its website.
