Nature filmmaking that focuses only on the environment can feel a little dry, while so-called human-interest storytelling can be cloying; Honeyland succeeds by combining the two. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters. At her old home in Bekirlija, she proudly unveiled her latest bowl of liquid honey. For more information about the series, and a complete schedule, visit IDA. The directors focused only on the visuals without making use of audio recordings or transcripts. Hatidze lives with her ailing mother in the mountains of Macedonia, making a living cultivating honey using ancient beekeeping traditions. Back at her homestead, Hatidze tends to her handmade hives and her bedridden mother, occasionally heading to the capital to market her wares. At Spains request, the European Court of Justice excluded Kosovo from participating in the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC), the Court of Justice of the European Union informed. But the documentary doesnt teach us much about cultivating honey. And then she said that this is something she was thinking of a lot how to find a way to tell her story to the world. [31] Sheena Scott, writing for Forbes, said Sam's actions were motivated by profit "to the detriment of a more suitable sustainable way of living". If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2023 demands. In fact, the social worker felt he had made himself too available. [14] Upon arriving at the location, the film crew was introduced to Hatide. Several environmental topics are explored, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and exploitation of natural resources. [17][18], Starting in 2015, the documentary was filmed over three years and the final version was condensed from more than 400 hours of footage. "The Sam family that comes later are the other group of bees who are attacking the previous group of bees, which is Hatidze and her family. The atmosphere in the village changes when the nomadic rancher Hussein Sam arrives with his wife Ljutvie, their seven children, and their imported domestic animals. You can't miss her. Beekeeper Hatidze Muratova leads the filmmakers to the very . [7][8] Initially, Hatide maintains good relationships with the family and spends time playing with the children. In a hint to the scene in the movie where she is purchasing hair dye, Hatidze had a new hairstyle done at the Iv studio in Skopje. [43] Bob Verini of Variety deemed it a "rare film that would be a strong contender in either [Academy Awards] category, in any year" due to its "strong geopolitical resonance and visual splendor". John Sloss Is More Hopeful About the Sundance Film Market Than You Might Think, The Oscar Race for Best Picture Has Three Frontrunners as Voting Closes Tuesday, How RRR and Glass Onion Are Trying to Hack the Best Picture Oscar Race, Whered the Color Go? To, co zaczyna si jako serdeczne ssiedzkie stosunki, w tym Hatidze przekazuje swoj wiedz pszczelarsk Husajnowi, sprawy przybieraj obrt, gdy Hussein postanawia nie zwraca uwagi na jeden kluczowy aspekt tej wiedzy, ktry . Finance came from a $25,000 grant awarded by San Francisco International Film Festival's documentary fund and three million Macedonian denars awarded by North Macedonia Film Agency. Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! [46] Writing for The Hollywood Reporter, Sheri Linden called it an "unforgettable vrit character study and an intimate look at an endangered tradition". We really enjoyed making this comparison during the shooting.". That was largely thanks to Mr. Stefanov and his fellow filmmakers. When they were asking for my hand?, Hatidze seems to wonder about the paths her life might have taken. In one scene, one of the young sons is shown helping a cow give birth, while another boy attempts milking with his father nearby. And as humans, how could they ever not? Having lived 56 years quite happily without television, Hatidze wasn't all that aware of "Sex and the City", although she graciously told the star-struck actress's fortune "by reading the coffee grains in bottom of her cup.". But she wasnt shy, and eventually allowed Kotevska and Stefanov to film her. At its heart, this film is a character study, a meditation on the life of a woman who has carved out a precarious existence in an unforgiving place. The crew of Honeyland spent years filming the day-to-day lives of Hatidze, her mother and her neighbors, and distilled all of their practices and chance encounters into a film just short of an hour and a half. Inexpensive, too! She has survived for more than 50 years in the ruins of an abandoned village with no electricity or indoor plumbing, eking out her existence by journeying to the closest city to trade the honey for medicine and fruit. Today, about 78,000 ethnic Turks still live in North Macedonia, making up just under 4% of the country's population of 2.1 million. She will continue to find happiness again and again as long as she lives.". But we decided to break that rule, said Atanas Georgiev, the films producer. However, Hussein, the father of the family, wants to harvest honey on a larger scale and for more profit. Hatidze especially feels the consequences. And this is her wish.. [31] Rating it with three stars out of four, Michael O'Sullivan from The Washington Post said despite the worthwhile patience it requires from viewers, the film "sneaks up on you in a quiet yet powerful way". In an interview, Hatide said she views her work as a means of restoring the ecosystem's balance. Honeyland revolves around her work as a wild bee keeper, as she ekes out a living in the rugged parts of the Ovce Pole plateau. [41] A.O. That intense process ultimately shoved Ms. Muratova and Mr. Sam, vulnerable people who had never previously even been to a cinema, into the media glare. Sucked into the dispute, the crew tried to stay neutral by providing legal assistance to both parties, and they mediated an agreement by which Ms. Muratova would withdraw her complaint in exchange for Mr. Sams promise to abide by a set of principles about his future behavior. Film Review: 'Honeyland' Macedonian docmakers Ljubomir Stefanov and Tamara Kotevska make a visually poetic debut with this stark, wistful portrait of a lone rural beekeeper. Hatidze lives in a village that is close to her brother relatives. [48] Rating it with four stars out of five, Helen O'Hara of Empire magazine, summed up the film as "[s]tunningly beautiful and quietly powerful, this is a portrait of a vanishing way of life and of a determined woman who's just trying to make her way in the world". You can see this in our film - in both families, it doesn't make a difference what [gender] they are, they all doing the same things.". Georgiev realised they had something way beyond a morality tale about capitalism on their hands. ", join us with a tax-deductible donation today. The shoot lasted three years, with co-directors Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov camping in the village with their cameramen until their batteries would run out -- since there was no electricity for miles. Will They Ever Leave? Just as worker bees spend their entire lives taking care of the queen bee which never leaves the hive, Hatidze has committed her own life to the care of her blind and paralyzed . A volunteer social worker now helps both families overcome a never-ending list of logistical and social challenges, including setting up bank accounts and enrolling them in social security. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and 2023 Copyright France 24 - All rights reserved. Hatidze spent her time caring for both her bees and her mother, and with no spouse or children of her own, took some of the neighbor kids under her wing. Sign up for our Email Newsletters here. Read full review. Hatidze Muratova, the subject of the award-winning documentary 'Honeyland.' Neon A woman walks down a dusty, sunbaked road. Honeyland was filmed over 100 separate days spread out over three years . The filmmakers spent three years with Hatidze. By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from Mother Jones and our partners. First we spent three and a half months, four months, just watching the material, the whole material. Related But they also contain poignant revelations of Hatidzes inner yearnings. Honeyland. Honeyland's central character, Hatidze Muratowa, a traditional beekeeper in rural Macedonia is one such. Honeyland received universal critical acclaim from film critics, who praised its attention to detail and applauded its conservationist message. That scene where she's taking the honey, she's saying, "Half for me and half for you." That was . When the Sam family arrives, she welcomes them with an open heart, and teaches them how to harvest the wild honey. And this is how we came to it. Hatidze gets very close to the bees, often using no protection. This is the first of many surprises in Honeyland (2019), a documentary set in a rugged, barely inhabited region of Macedonia where an extraordinary woman named Hatidze maintains ancient traditions of wild beekeeping. They noticed beehives behind a rock on the mountain where they were filming. Complicating matters: They didn't speak Turkish, the preferred language of the film's main subjects both Hatidze and her new neighbors who moved in a few months into the shoot and disrupted her. [20][35] The finished film includes six of the twenty-five scenes portraying the relationship between the two. She says that beekeeping has made Hatidze such a remarkable person. Complicating matters: They didnt speak Turkish, the preferred language of the films main subjects both Hatidze and her new neighbors who moved in a few months into the shoot and disrupted her way of life. Even if Im in a film, she said, Im still going to take care of my bees.. Hatidze, star of the Oscar nominated Honeyland movie, gets a new house. After Hollywood, she will head there again in the spring and watch the stars from her little stone hut. Related But she refused a request to open up her hives, hidden in the crags of a nearby mountain, for fear the heat of the noon sun would harm the honeycombs. The Salt Massive Loss Of Thousands Of Hives Afflicts Orchard Growers And Beekeepers It's a solitary, hardscrabble existence, and Hatidze doesn't enjoy being cut off from the world. It was very surprising because we didnt change what we put on the line. [10] The movie was originally intended as government-funded documentary short focusing on the Bregalnica river and the preservation of the surrounding region in Lozovo municipality, central North Macedonia. [15] The film was going to focus on Hatide's relationship with her mother and the directors had no conflict planned until the nomad family arrived sometime later. Ms. Muratova, pouring some honey for her guests at her home in Bekirlija. Honeyland (Macedonian: , transliterated: Medena zemja) is a 2019 Macedonian documentary film that was directed by Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov. Moments before leaving, Mr. Sam pulled him aside to ask why he hadnt been in contact so much during the coronavirus lockdown. [23][24] According to Kotevska and Stefanov, during filming they mainly relied on visual observations of their subjects, whose language they did not understand. [34][35] The documentary includes numerous scenes of Hatide and her neighbors during the beekeeping process, including the handling of the apiaries where the bees are kept, the cutting of honeycombs and the collection of honey in jars. Mr. Sam wanted its water for his cows, while Ms. Muratova said it was only for human use. happened upon a pivotal conflict that would alter Hatidze's life: the arrival of a nomadic family of nine who settled nearby with a few hundred cattle and a fierce determination to make a living. When an unruly family moves in next door, what at first seems like a balm for her solitude becomes a source of tension as they, too, want to practice beekeeping, while disregarding her advice. [14][35], The world premiere of Honeyland took place at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival on 28 January 2019. You can see how unjust life was to her, because shes the greatest extrovert and artist youll ever meet, and yet shes trapped all her life in this abandoned area, and given the burden to take care of her mother, Kotevska said. The documentary's success is even more remarkable because it started almost accidentally. Can you pitch in a few bucks to help fund Mother Jones' investigative journalism? [13], Initially, the directors were planning to focus on the rotational farming practices of villagers inhabiting the area around Bregalnica. Log in to Reply. Hatidze Muratova. [17][21] The filming technique has elements of direct cinema and cinma vrit. The story that unfolds in "Honeyland" is such a perfect parable of our times as we fret over the planet, that the New York Times declared it "the best movie of the year". [51] On Metacritic, it was ranked as the twenty-fourth-best film of 2019. With eight hungry mouths to feed, Hussein tries his hand at honey. Perhaps this is why the most arresting imagery comes early on, before Hussein's family arrives kicking up dust with their animals and trucks. According to Kotevska, virtually none of the film's scenes are inauthentic the only part that had to be recreated was the Sams arrival in the village, which the filmmakers had missed their first year of filming. Indeed, the contrast could not be more stark to Hatidze's solitary life in Bekirlija, where she tends her hives of wild bees, only ever taking half the honey so the bees would always have their due. Here, she lives alone with her mother, putting in all her time and energy to make sure they live happily and peacefully. During postproduction, the two became locked in a dispute about a communal well in Bekirlija. Honeyland is a film set in a remote land, where the people live in ways unfamiliar in the West. Anyone can read what you share. Serenading them with a secret chant, she gently manoeuvres the honeycomb without netting or gloves. Honeyland is the first film to compete for both the best documentary award and best international feature film. Nell Minow: Directors Ljubo Stefanov and Tamara Kotevska show the same infinite patience and care in telling the story of their subject, a Macedonian beekeeper named Hatidze, that Hatidze shows in caring for her bees. But it's a message which is in danger of being lost in the modern world. Now this place and these people are different, said a wistful Ljubomir Stefanov, one of the films two co-directors, sitting in Ms. Muratovas garden. The film has already enabled Kotevska and Stefanov to buy Hatidze a house in another village, close to her brother's family. (Credit: Ljubo Stefanov/Trice Films) [28] They also set up a donation page supporting Hatide and the Sam kids on the film's website. And that change speaks to a wider ethical conundrum that Mr. Stefanov and his colleagues have grappled with since finishing filming one that has long troubled documentary filmmakers. Watch Kotevska and Stefanovs IDA Q&A below. Culture 06.02.2020 / 14:39. Directors Tamara Kotevska Ljubomir Stefanov Writers Tamara Kotevska Ljubomir Stefanov Stars Hatidze Muratova Nazife Muratova Hussein Sam (and find out what happened to Hatidze). But Kotevska's main impression of Los Angeles is: "From the tall buildings, I cannot see the stars.". Film Crew Spent 3 Years in Remote Balkan Hamlet. What happened to Hatidze after Honeyland's opening sequence led Stefanov and Kotevska to devote three more years to filming her story and another year editing the four hundred hours of footage into eighty-five minutes. Honeyland has much to say about conserving nature, but its lessons are also about human life and relationships. In Hatidze's family, learning the skill skipped a generation - she learned it as a girl from her grandfather, rather than her parents. Their avarice, and the events that soon unfold, haveled many critics to praise the film as an allegory for the modern worlds impact on our most fragile ecosystems. One of the more unlikely films competing in this weekend's Oscars is a fascinating story about a wild beekeeper in the Balkans. Scott, the co-chief film critic of The New York Times, named it the No. Honeyland, an Oscar contender for both best documentary feature and best international feature, may first appear to be concerned with wild beekeeping in the small, landlocked Republic of North Macedonia. Sign up for our Email Newsletters here. And the complexities of this transition created a clash between the filmmakers professional duties as cleareyed observers and their subjects emotional expectations of them as humans and friends. Her life perks. Honeyland has a strong ecological message, but it's the life story of the woman at the centre of the film that has struck a chord around the world. [22] David Fear writing for Rolling Stone viewed it as a documentary that portrays "rural regionalism and lost art forms", also saying the directors ensured viewers are immersed in Hatide's way of living during the first half of the movie so they realize what is being lost during the latter half. [20] Josh Kupecki from the Austin Chronicle said Honeyland successfully depicts the way "capitalism functions even in the most rural areas". A "Honeyland" foundation for her, the Sam family and the wider community, is up and running, with internet donors getting some of their wild "bio honey" in the post. When Hatidze went for a dress fitting for the Oscars in the North Macedonian capital Skopje, it took "20 minutes for her to walk 200 metres because so many people wanted to have a selfie with her,"" Georgiev revealed. [37] In the United Kingdom, Honeyland was released by Dogwoof on 13 September 2019,[38] which was followed by a wider release in most European countries the same month. Hatidze generously imparts her methods to him but, pressured by money-grubbing marketeers, he disregards the half-for-them-half-for-us rule and wreaks havoc on the region's beekeeping . Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights. It portrays the life of Hatide Muratova, a loner beekeeper of wild bees who lives in the remote mountain village of Bekirlija and follows her lifestyle before and after neighbors move in nearby. Aremote village in the mountains of Macedonia is the setting for Honeyland, a documentary by Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov that follows Hatidze Muratova as she maneuvers through . She stated that the movie was too fictionalized to be regarded as a documentary and claimed it was "a bona fide Flahertian re-enacted documentary. [19] Due to the remoteness of Bekirlija, the production team stayed there for three-to-four consecutive days before going to nearby towns for supplies and to recharge their filming equipment. [19] Michael O'Sullivan from The Washington Post also found a prominent, cautionary message about the consequences of disrupting the universe's equilibrium. But when they met Hatidze a beekeeper who returned half of her honey to the bees who made it, and lived in an abandoned village caring for her ailing, blind mother - they found a dynamic. It's a poem including history"[19] and listed the film as best pick for 2019. Hatidze lives with her ailing mother in the mountains of Macedonia, making a living cultivating honey using ancient beekeeping traditions. Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. . "So, Hatidze's destiny was to stay and take care of her parents.". "This was the most valuable lesson for us as the authors of the future films. She takes only half of the honey, leaving the rest for the bees. [59][60] In February 2020, the documentary won an award in the category of Best International Success at the 23rd Golden Ladybug of Popularity Awards in North Macedonia. The film shows that to be true of the people living in the region too. A.O. Soon after, her mother dies. We're a nonprofit (so it's tax-deductible), and reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget. And bees do fill the filmflitting in and out of the frame, stinging hapless neighbors, and alchemizing the harsh landscape into molten gold. One can also call it fake.". When we first meet Hatidze, she is ascending. Ms. Muratova had lost her new house key, so the producer had to find the workman with the spare. Nazife says she did not turn them down, but Hatidze's late father did. The stylists shared her pictures, saying she is now ready to . crafted from more than 400 (!) The content you requested does not exist or is not available anymore. In one scene of the film, Hatidze asks her mother why she turned down offers of marriage that were brought for Hatidze. You havent been calling, Mr. Sam said. [64] Jake Coyle writing for the Associated Press deemed the documentary a "quietly revolutionary Oscar nominee" and said it "speaks to the increasingly boundless nature of [the] documentary [genre]". Directors Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov are expected to attend all screenings. [57] Kotevska and Stefanov also started a campaign titled Donate for the Honeyland Community that sends jars of natural honey to donors of a fund that benefits Hatide and her neighbors. [44] Guy Lodge, another Variety journalist, wrote in a positive review that in the "painstaking observational documentary, everything from the honey upwards is organic". Tamara Kotevska . Hatidze Muratova, a Macedonian beekeeper who's at the heart of the film "Honeyland.". [16] Hatide and the nomad family were camera-shy at first but became used to the process as filming progressed. The death of Hatidzes two sisters has tasked her with caring for her dying mother alone. The film was shot on a shoestring budget, but grossed a little over $1 million, and turned its makers into darlings of the documentary circuit. Nevertheless she still spends the bee season in her old village. From the start, Georgiev said they were very aware about their responsibilities to their subjects and the eco-system -- both natural and human -- that they come from. Like, for example, in the winter, when mother said there will be spring, something like that, was very [profound], he said. BEKIRLIJA, North Macedonia When the producer and two directors of Honeyland returned to the setting of their documentary in North Macedonia for the first time since it earned two Oscar nominations in February, something fundamental had changed. Critics have viewed it as a film that also explores anthropological topics. "To be able to communicate with bees you need to have a personal strength to approach them, patience to learn how to tame them, and this way of life requires not force but wisdom," says Kotevska. he, out of greed, breaks Honeyland's basic rule (take half of the honey, but leave half to the bees); she, the last female beehunter in Europe, is left to save the bees and restore natural . The HONEYLAND story began long before humans ever lived in the region, but our narrative starts with its last two remaining inhabitants: Hatidze and her mother Nazife. In Honeyland, Hatidze's echo of paradise is most certainly lost. "Everyone has to do the same work to survive. IndieWire is a part of Penske Media Corporation. This principle is based on the customs and traditions of her grandfather, who taught her bees need to use their own honey to obtain enough energy to fly and mate. [58], Honeyland was the most awarded movie at the 2019 Sundance Movie Festival, winning awards in three categories, including the Grand Jury Prize, the Special Jury Award for Impact for Change, and the Special Jury Award for Cinematography, all in the World Cinema Documentary Competition category.
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