Honeyland
Directors Tamara Kotevska and Ljubo Stefanov
Starring: Hatidze Muratova
Genre: Documentary
Lost ways. Lost bees. Lost serenity. It would be hard to watch this twice Oscar-nominated documentary and not feel devastated for Hatidze Muratova – one of the last Macedonian wild beekeepers whose harmonious relationship with the bees and her isolated mountain environment gets disrupted by an itinerant family.
The family descends on the area like marauders. Kids and cows kick and bellow in noisy confusion. Hatidze is happy at first to find the family are ethnic Turks like her and her mother, and she grows particularly fond of one of the boys. She is less happy to learn that their farming techniques are invasive and haphazard.
Hussein (the father) is pressured by the need to feed and clothe his seven children and refuses to heed Hatidze’s wisdom about ancient methods for harvesting wild honey. Propelled by production quotas, he dismisses her advice about keeping half of the honey to sell and leaving the other half for the bees. The consequences are terrible.
Hatidze, who is in her mid-50s, cares for her ailing mother, Nazife, in their threadbare hut – cajoling her to eat, scolding her for not moving her legs, dressing her wounds, and singing to her. She also regularly carts honey for four hours to the market in Skopje, earning just enough to buy bananas and a few other essential items.
To the outsider, her existence may look sparse and lonely but she has a deep affinity with the land and its creatures. While the film doesn’t idealise her life, or underplay her longings, it does show how sharing and conservation are key to her survival.
Macedonian directors Tamara Kotevska and Ljubo Stefanov filmed their debut during bitter snowstorms and oppressive heat over three years to bring Hatidze’s strength to life on screen. “Hatidze acts with the bees as if they were her family and she takes care of them as if they were her children,” says Kotevska. “And through that, even though her life is very harsh, Hatidze doesn’t feel lonely.”
To watch as the scenes unfold is a slow and meditative experience. When Hatidze harvests honeycomb from rock crevices to reveal their molten goodness, it is profoundly mysterious. You could watch her for hours.
Honeyland was nominated in the 2020 Academy Awards in the categories for Best International Feature Film and Best Documentary Feature. It is the first documentary in the history of the Oscars to receive a nomination in both categories.
View Honeyland on the documentary and current affairs streaming service iwonder.
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