Critic A.O. 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. The directors say that wild beekeeping was something that only a few people in the region learned how to do. "Sharing with bees and with nature is the key to her survival," says Stefanov. To lessen the pressure on himself in refereeing the relationship, Mr. Georgiev created a foundation that works with the families independently of the crew. Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox. When matchmakers were coming, you didnt accept any? she asks her mother. [51] On Metacritic, it was ranked as the twenty-fourth-best film of 2019. She was born, she says, in 1964; she has, apparently, spent her entire life in this craggy farm region of the. Those with more knowledge than I have of beekeeping may appreciate the details better, but the extra hardships that come to . A conflict played out between human neighbours is also mirrored by the bees. She has been making a living by farming honey and selling it in the closest city for her whole life, following one simple, but crucial rule - take half the honey and leave the other half to the bees. Usually you dont interfere with your protagonists but as soon as we realized Honeyland would be very successful, we thought we had to do something.. Now it has become the first film ever to get Oscar nominations for both best documentary and best foreign language movie, Hatidze has become a full-blown celebrity who gets stopped in the street by Hollywood stars. [54] She also criticized the alleged romanticization and exploitation of the austere conditions of Hatides circumstance for the political message on sustainability, defining it a "morality tale about environmentalism and sustainability that borders on preaching.". But she wasnt shy, and eventually allowed Kotevska and Stefanov to film her. Shes the only one remaining in this village to take care of her mother, because in the old tribe that she belongs to its a tradition that the last female takes care over the parents and doesnt have a family of her own, Kotevska. Most of the houses were still in ruins, slowly sliding into the undergrowth. what happened to Hatidze might be easier to understand, because they . It was very surprising because we didnt change what we put on the line. Hatidze Muratova, the protagonist of "Honeyland. 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. BELGRADE, Serbia After taking the lead role in Oscar-nominated documentary Honeyland, Hatice (Atidze) Muratova left behind her previous life of poverty. "[50] Sheena Scott from Forbes shared Sims's sentiments, writing that "it is the moments of intimacy that make this film so unique and beautiful". First we spent three and a half months, four months, just watching the material, the whole material. Self: Honeyland. The filmmakers spent three years with Hatidze. "She finds happiness and companionship in every living creature around her. The film depicts how Ms. Muratova and Hussein Sam, a seminomadic farmer tried to coexist in one of the poorest pockets of North Macedonia. 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. Campaigns to collect additional funds to support Hatidze are on-going. The Oscar race is in full swing, and all eyes are on the big contenders: "Joker"! Hatide lives with her 85-year-old, partly blind and bedridden mother Nazife, who is completely dependent on her daughter. [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. In a deserted Macedonian village, Hatidze, a 50-something woman, trudges up a hillside to check her bee colonies nestled in the rocks. Gently placing it into Nazife's hands, the old woman's ruined face (one eye has been destroyed by a wound or infection . Kotevska says they were struck by how similar Hatidze was to a worker bee and how her mother resembled the queen bee. [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". 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. Scott from The New York Times viewed Hatide as a "heroic figure" who sends a message to her "wasteful, wanton neighbors". 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. "They make you extremely creative, we thought of the solutions that turned out to be quite unique.". 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. A.O. We are now very trained to see the stories that are created visually.". This gave us the power of the visual story that we made. We stuck to our promise and we followed them as unobtrusively as possible for 3 years. In fact it was the other way round. IndieWire is a part of Penske Media Corporation. "Ljubo Stefanov. "So, Hatidze's destiny was to stay and take care of her parents.". In an interview, Hatide said she views her work as a means of restoring the ecosystem's balance. Guests Expected. However, after learning about Hatidze from their time spent in the local area, this plan soon developed into a three year stay documenting Hatdidze's unique way of life and her interaction with those . But we decided to break that rule, said Atanas Georgiev, the films producer. In an interview with Anadolu Agency, Muratova told her story that begins in a poor rural village in North Macedonia, leading in Oscar nominees. Directors Tamara Kotevska, Ljubomir Stefanov Starring Hatidze Muratova, Nazife Muratova, Hussein Sam Genres Drama, Documentary, Special Interest Subtitles None available Scott hailed "Honeyland" as "nothing less than a found epic, a real-life environmental allegory and a stinging comedy about the age-old problem of inconsiderate neighbours.". 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. The surprise hit at Sundance, where it won three awards, including the World Cinema Documentary Grand Prize, Honeyland is a visually stunning human portrait that has something sweet for everyone. Honeyland (Macedonian: , transliterated: Medena zemja) is a 2019 Macedonian documentary film that was directed by Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov. Sundance 2023: Slashed Streaming Budgets and Theatrical Woes Won't Dampen Sales [20] Kotevska said the most suitable description of the documentary's main theme is modern consumerism. Most of the houses were still in ruins, slowly sliding into the undergrowth. Scott from The New York Times praised the directors for "render[ing] the thick complexity of experience with poignant clarity" and called the film "quiet, intimate and intense, but touched with a breath of epic grandeur. Honeyland. Honeyland focuses on Hatidze Muratova, a beekeeper from the Macedonian village of Bekirlija, and her traditional, environmental-friendly practices to sell the honey that she gathers from her bees. But there was big pressure from the public in Macedonia" for her to go to the Oscars. 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. For more information about the series, and a complete schedule, visit IDA. Hatidze makes a living using ancient beekeeping traditions. Influencers: Profiles of a Partnership 2022, How to Pitch Stories and Articles to IndieWire, Sundance 2023: 17 Films That Could Sell Big Among a Diverse Lineup, Sundance 2023: Slashed Streaming Budgets and Theatrical Woes Won't Dampen Sales, 7 New Netflix Shows in October 2022 -- and the Best Reasons to Watch. 2023 BBC. When we met Hatidze and consequently everyone else you see in the film, we made sure to let them know that we will be nothing more than silent observers of their lives. Hatidze first appears on a dangerous cliff edge wearing no protective mask, a cloud of bees swarming as she removes honeycomb from a hive in rocks. Tamara Kotevska . Honeyland received universal critical acclaim from film critics, who praised its attention to detail and applauded its conservationist message. Honeyland began as a government-funded environmental short exploring conservation, biodiversity . Beekeeper Hatidze Muratova leads the filmmakers to the very . This approach was followed during the post-production stages and the first six months of the rough cut, which together lasted approximately 12 months. 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. 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 . [36] One mixed review came from Stephen Whitty writing for Screen Daily, who praised the painstaking filming and imagery but said its "commercial future seems limited" and that it "leaves plenty of questions and, occasionally, its audience behind". 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 . Hatidze Muratova, the star of the documentary Honeyland, was given a new house by the producers of the double Oscar nominated movie. 8.0 1 h 29 min 2019 NR Haditze Muratova, the last of the Macedonian wild beekeepers, sees her peaceful existence threatened by the arrival of her new neighbors. In one scene of the film, Hatidze asks her mother why she turned down offers of marriage that were brought for Hatidze. All Rights Reserved. Back at her homestead, Hatidze tends to her handmade hives and her bedridden mother, occasionally heading to the capital to market her wares. 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. 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. Now the filmmakers are struggling to disentangle themselves from their subjects. 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.". Honeyland. She says nothing to the camera as she heads to a cliffside spot with no signs -- the directions are known only to her. 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". 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. When he and the two directors visited in July, they were immediately overwhelmed by a new barrage of issues. . "When we came to editing, we spent a week or more just being completely stuck. Dan on January 31, 2020 at 11:01 am . Can you pitch in a few bucks to help fund Mother Jones' investigative journalism? Her new neighbors dont share her philosophy of taking only whats needed from the bees. Critics have viewed it as a film that also explores anthropological topics. Honeyland. The IDA Documentary Screening Series brings some of the years most acclaimed documentary films to the IDA community and members of industry guilds and organizations. They have since helped set Hatidze up in a new winter home close to her relatives in the "nearest village to civilisation". When the Sam family arrives, she welcomes them with an open heart, and teaches them how to harvest the wild honey. So all the scenes with the dialogue, particularly, we didnt know whats going on there. Her life perks. Watch Kotevska and Stefanovs IDA Q&A below. (Credit: Ljubo Stefanov/Trice Films) 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. And this is how we came to it. 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. The eureka moment was when "Hatidze talked about half the honey being for the bees and half for her. 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. Honeyland documents the life of Hatide Muratova, a Macedonian beekeeper of Turkish descent, who lives in the village of Bekirlija in the municipality of Lozovo. Ms.Kotevska withMs. Muratova in her new house. But Kotevska says that there was never any need for negotiation; from the first time she encountered the filmmakers, Hatidze wanted to get her story out to the world. Mr. Sam has a more haphazard way with his cows, viewing them almost as antagonists. [17][21] The filming technique has elements of direct cinema and cinma vrit. Moments before leaving, Mr. Sam pulled him aside to ask why he hadnt been in contact so much during the coronavirus lockdown. "Honeyland" is a remarkable documentary, made over the course of three years.It won three awards at the Sundance Film Festival and follows Hatidze as she goes about her life. Its distributor Neon gave it a theatrical release in the United States, opening on 26 July 2019. Although initially reluctant to participate in the documentary, Hatide agreed to get involved to send a message of sustainable living to the world. It was never the main source of income for the villagers, but the families passed it down through generations. [44] Guy Lodge, another Variety journalist, wrote in a positive review that in the "painstaking observational documentary, everything from the honey upwards is organic". We dont understand Turkish. This is how we found our protagonist. This leads to Sam's colonies attacking Hatide's during the resource-scarce winter. She has become a star. Hatidze lives with her ailing mother in the mountains of Macedonia, making a living cultivating honey using ancient beekeeping traditions. Honeyland Review: An accomplished and heartfelt documentary exploring a lost way of life and impact of the modern world on our environment . 7,8. Soon after, her mother dies. She lives with her ailing mother in a shack in a deserted village, without electricity, void of every convenience. Honeyland received its world premiere at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival on 28 January and it has grossed $1,315,037. Honeyland follows the day-to-day life of Hatidze Muratova, one of the last "bee-hunters", as she cultivates honey from the mountains of Macedonia. Sundance 2023: 17 Films That Could Sell Big Among a Diverse Lineup That was largely thanks to Mr. Stefanov and his fellow filmmakers. Honeyland opens this way: near-wordlessly, attending to the rituals of Hatidze's day, her trips to the nearest city to sell her honey. It is well known that male and female bees fill very different roles, but the film shows everybody doing the same jobs. [52] It also appeared on twenty-three critics' year-end top-ten lists, ranking first in three of them. [49], David Sims of The Atlantic called Honeyland "a rare nature documentary that's deeply personal". Gender shouldn't be the topic of discussion. . "The mother and daughter story is so beautiful and almost mythological, but with the honey, there is conflict, capitalism and consumerism. The . According to Kotevska, they wanted to make sure the movie's narrative is completely understandable even if it is followed visually. WEB_1080P . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and But in relative terms, the period depicted in the film proved to be a rare period of calm in a conflict that had begun long before filming started, and which has escalated since it finished. [27], After the film, the filmmakers bought Hatide a house close to her brother's family, although she still spends bee season in her old village. Calm and gentle, Ms. Muratova has a deep and respectful relationship with nature, treating her bees almost as collaborators. Terms of Service apply. 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. The film has already enabled Kotevska and Stefanov to buy Hatidze a house in another village, close to her brother's family. Some documentary crews maintain a professional distance even after filming stops. [14][35], The world premiere of Honeyland took place at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival on 28 January 2019. Informacje o filmie. Honeyland has much to say about conserving nature, but its lessons are also about human life and relationships. When we first meet Hatidze, she is ascending. She takes only half of the honey, leaving the rest for the bees. "Sarah Jessica Parker was very excited to meet her after seeing the film," "Honeyland" producer Atanas Georgiev told AFP. Subscribe today and get a full year of Mother Jones for just $14.95. The film chronicles the tensions betweenHatidze Muratova, a local beekeeper, and a farmer in the remote hamlet of Bekirlija. . Anyone can read what you share. Hatide earns a living by selling honey in the country's capital Skopje, which is four hours away from the village. She is one of the last keepers of wild bees in Europe. Using prize money won by the film, he and his colleagues had found her a new house in Dorfulija, a larger and wealthier village about half an hours drive away. [9], Honeyland is Tamara Kotevska's and Ljubomir Stefanov's second collaboration on a documentary movie after Lake of Apples (2017). Titles . Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights. One day, an . Nevertheless she still spends the bee season in her old village. 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. Honeyland is the story of Hatidze, a lone rural beekeeper in the spectacular, almost unpopulated Macedonian mountain countryside. [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. And even with her newfound fame, Ms. Muratova said she still remained true to her vocation. Hatidze spends her time caring for her bees which she keeps in the stone walls of old structures and in the rocks of cliffs instead of modern bee boxes and for her mother. Hatidze lives with her ailing mother in the mountains of Macedonia, making a living . 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