In Honeyland, Hatidze's echo of paradise is most certainly lost. It is well known that male and female bees fill very different roles, but the film shows everybody doing the same jobs. Honeyland. The arrival of a nomadic familytrailer, shabby cattle, kittens, and a litter of children in towshatters Hatidzes serene world, and that tension sets the dramatic stakes of the film. Reyseria: Tamara Kotevska Ljubomir Stefanov; Produkcja: Macedonia; . But it is also kind of a payback, Mr. Georgiev said. And, like the jobs in the village of Bekirlija, the making of the film was shared between Stefanov and Kotevska, who is one of only a handful of female directors to be nominated for an Oscar this year. If Id had a son like you, she later tells one of the neighbor boys, things would be different.. We are filmmakers, not social workers.. 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. Those with more knowledge than I have of beekeeping may appreciate the details better, but the extra hardships that come to . It was amazing," he said. For more information about the series, and a complete schedule, visit IDA. Agence France-presse / February 6, 2020 Deep within the Balkans, Hatidze Muratova is the last in a long line of Macedonian wild beekeepers. "She is sharp, very intelligent and speaks four languages from different language groups -- Turkish, Macedonian, Albanian and Vlach (Aromanian)," Georgiev said. Honeyland Review: An accomplished and heartfelt documentary exploring a lost way of life and impact of the modern world on our environment . We see her climb to a beehive that is hidden behind a large rock. But Hatidze was longing for her own family. But she wasnt shy, and eventually allowed Kotevska and Stefanov to film her. Given her exceptionally poor living conditions in the nearly deserted hamlet of Bekirlija, Hatidze would often say that her main wish, out of her newfound fame, is to move to a better house in the near-by village of Dorfulija which offers far better living standards. Production with obstacles. The content you requested does not exist or is not available anymore. But we decided to break that rule, said Atanas Georgiev, the films producer. Nominated for Oscars for both best documentary feature and best foreign film, it is a visual masterpiece, introducing its viewers to an incredible, particular life . . "I think she put a spell on us all, so that we would look after her daughter when she was gone," he said. Life was hard but peaceful in this forgotten corner of the Balkans. 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. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters. Back at her homestead, Hatidze tends to her handmade hives and her bedridden mother, occasionally heading to the capital to market her wares. Honeyland chronicles a period of Hatidze's life when her ancient methods of beekeeping came up against, and conflicted with, those of a newcomer to her remote home region. 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. what happened to Hatidze might be easier to understand, because they . "Half for me and half for you" is Hatidze's mantra, which she repeats as she tends to the bees on the mountain. The film has already enabled Kotevska and Stefanov to buy Hatidze a house in another village, close to her brother's family. This is exemplified when she chants "half for me, half for you" to her bees when collecting honey. We noticed you have an ad blocker on. She hikes along a mountain ridge, prying a small, flat slab from the. [29], According to Stefanov, the directors' main focuses in Honeyland were climate change, biodiversity loss exemplified by the decline of the bee population,[30] and the use of natural resources. 2019 . Read about our approach to external linking. Honeyland's central character, Hatidze Muratowa, a traditional beekeeper in rural Macedonia is one such. 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". [65] Following the movie's dual nomination, several other countries started submitting their documentaries for dual categories at the 2021 Oscar awards. Honeyland introduces us to Hatidze Muratova, a woman in her 50s who harvests honey from her own beehives in the mountains of Macedonia. 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. We began Honeyland in the framework of a nature conservation project. Will They Ever Leave? Ms. Muratova, pouring some honey for her guests at her home in Bekirlija. 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. The . [51] On Metacritic, it was ranked as the twenty-fourth-best film of 2019. 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. Hatidze lives in Bekirlija, an abandoned village with no electricity, running water or roads, where she looks after her ailing mother. We really enjoyed making this comparison during the shooting.". But theres another dimension to Hatidzes story that, for me, elevates the film above a simple fable about human greed. Hatidze lives in a village that is close to her brother relatives. Honeyland is the story of Hatidze, a lone rural beekeeper in the spectacular, almost unpopulated Macedonian mountain countryside. 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. "It's important who we were as people, our personalities, this was crucial. . This kind of involvement is partly a self-interested act, Mr. Georgiev said a means of both salving the crews conscience for deriving professional benefit from the lives of both Mr. Sam and Ms. Muratova, and warding off public criticism. But under pressure to produce more from a local merchant, he breaks Hatidze's golden rule of leaving half for the bees, with disastrous consequences for everyone. [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. [14] Kotevska and Stefanov stated they tried to reflect the traditions of the region, according to which the last daughter has to take care of her parents until they die, prohibiting the daughter from marrying and establishing her own family. 2023 IndieWire Media, LLC. Honeyland is the first film to compete for both the best documentary award and best international feature film. The 225 Best Horror Movies of All Time You havent been calling, Mr. Sam said. Filming of Honeyland lasted three years, and 400 hours of footage was filmed. Hatide earns a living by selling honey in the country's capital Skopje, which is four hours away from the village. Honeyland. Hatidze gets very close to the bees, often using no protection. Honeyland is the first documentary to receive a nomination in both categories in the history of the Oscars. That is until their nomadic neighbours, Hussein and Ljutvie Sam, moved in with their unruly herd of children, cows and chickens. [citation needed] In the UK, it was released on DVD and Blu-ray disc by Dogwoof on 24 February 2020; the disc includes deleted scenes and a theatrical trailer. "Everyone has to do the same work to survive. 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. Honeyland (2019) 9 of 216. "Marriage . While working on a short video commissioned by a nature conservancy project, the filmmakers met Hatidze Muratova, a middle-aged woman who ekes out a hardscrabble and solitary existence harvesting honey with ancient, sustainable methods across the craggy mountainous landscape of the former Yugoslav republic while caring for her half-blind and bedridden mother in a modest home without . 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. Honeyland began as a government-funded environmental short exploring conservation, biodiversity . France 24 is not responsible for the content of external websites. They have since helped set Hatidze up in a new winter home close to her relatives in the "nearest village to civilisation". [16] Hatide and the nomad family were camera-shy at first but became used to the process as filming progressed. [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 deals out the honey in 'Honeyland' Honeyland is a deceptively sweet title for a documentary about a lonely life spent in a harsh, barren landscape. . The documentary's success is even more remarkable because it started almost accidentally. All Rights Reserved. "This was the most valuable lesson for us as the authors of the future films. The film was initially planned as a short film documenting the region surrounding the river Bregalnica but its area of focus changed when the directors met Hatide. Hatide instructs him on collecting honey and provides him with several bees so Sam can start his own colony. Sign up for our Email Newsletters here. She described Hatide's case as a portrayal of "how consumerism destroys natural resources completely". This leads to Sam's colonies attacking Hatide's during the resource-scarce winter. But there was big pressure from the public in Macedonia" for her to go to the Oscars. [25][26] The camerawork, which is steady during the first half of the movie, later becomes less steady with the arrival of the nomadic neighbors. When they were asking for my hand?, Hatidze seems to wonder about the paths her life might have taken. We spent hours just thinking what to do with this material. Hatidze makes a living using ancient beekeeping traditions. 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. The Oscar race is in full swing, and all eyes are on the big contenders: "Joker"! Hatide scolds Sam for ignoring her advice and her bee colony collapses. Scott, the co-chief film critic of The New York Times, named it the No. Moments before leaving, Mr. Sam pulled him aside to ask why he hadnt been in contact so much during the coronavirus lockdown. "honeyland," directed by tamara kotevska and ljubomir stefanov, is set in macedonia and follows the life of the region's last nomadic beekeeper hatide muratova, much of the film tracks the. [20] She elaborated that Sam's initial hesitation to sell more honey than he could produce comes from the conflict between his moral values and "the pressures of society". [39] As of July 2021, Honeyland has grossed $815,082 in the US and Canada, and $499,955 in other territories, making a worldwide gross of $1,315,037. Hatide lives with her 85-year-old, partly blind and bedridden mother Nazife, who is completely dependent on her daughter. (and find out what happened to Hatidze). She lives by that simple principle. 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. Both members of North Macedonias Turkish minority, Ms. Muratova, 56, and Mr. Sam, 70, have similar roots in rural poverty, but markedly different approaches to life. Hatidze Muratova lives in a remote area of Macedonia and has one simple rule: When you harvest honey, you take half and leave the other half for the bees. And then we started editing on mute just the visual narrative, Stefanov explained. But Ms. Muratovas cramped, dark living room, site of the movies most moving scene, no longer felt lived in. She removes the covering and, with her bare hands, pulls honey-covered frames out of the hive while chanting to the bees and using smoke to keep . However, Hussein, the father of the family, wants to harvest honey on a larger scale and for more profit. [14] Upon arriving at the location, the film crew was introduced to Hatide. After Hollywood, she will head there again in the spring and watch the stars from her little stone hut. She lives with her mother and is her care-taker, although . The documentary received numerous awards and nominations at film festivals, including three awards at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and two nominations at the 92nd Academy Awards in the categories for Best International Feature Film and Best Documentary Feature . The stylists shared her pictures, saying she is now ready to . [39], On 22 October 2019, Honeyland was released in the US on video on demand and DVD by Universal Studios. Hatidze, star of the Oscar nominated Honeyland movie, gets a new house. The death of Hatidzes two sisters has tasked her with caring for her dying mother alone. It's us but for your ears. One day, the Sam family, nomadic cattle farmers who speak the same archaic Turkish dialect as Haditze and her mother, install their caravan right next to the women's house. In the film, relations between Ms. Muratova and Mr. Sam were bad; Mr. Sam ignored Ms. Muratovas advice about how to start his own bee colony, leading his bees to attack hers and ruining Ms. Muratovas entire livelihood. Like, for example, in the winter, when mother said there will be spring, something like that, was very [profound], he said. But Kotevska's main impression of Los Angeles is: "From the tall buildings, I cannot see the stars.". 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. The filmmakers spent three years with Hatidze. 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. Inside the house, the taps were dry, so Mr. Georgiev called the mayor to reconnect the water. Macedonian directors Tamara Kotevska and Ljubo Stefanov were researching in a remote mountainous area of the country for a short nature documentary. Guests Expected. Every time she has a new person coming to her door, she starts singing to them to break the ice. She also sings to the bees, a technique that appears to quell their stings. This is how we found our protagonist. In a simpler world, Mr. Georgiev, Mr. Stefanov and his co-director, Tamara Kotevska, would be basking in their newfound success, and focusing on new projects. Hatidze lives with her ailing mother in the mountains of Macedonia, making a living cultivating honey using ancient beekeeping traditions. Kotevska says that the directors do not want to portray the Sam family as symbols of destruction, but merely as "the mirror to all of us who make bad decisions", based on the need to survive and provide. 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