The Last Beekeeper
Documentary Competition
(USA, 2009, 66 mins)
HDCam-29.97
Directed By: Jeremy Simmons
Producers: Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato, Mona Card
Cinematographers: Goro Toshima, Sebastian Jungwirth, David Kempner, Jeremy Simmons, Pyongson Yim
Editor: Jeremy Simmons
Music: David Benjamin Steinberg
The world's honeybees are currently in crisis. These unsung heroes of the food chain, who are responsible for pollinating a third of the food we eat, are vanishing at an alarming rate. With some beekeepers reporting an unexplained 90% decrease in their hive population, scientists are working to solve this environmental mystery. This phenomenon, known as Colony Collapse Disorder, is at the heart of Jeremy Simmons' documentary, "The Last Beekeeper."
Simmons' film follows the emotional journey of three struggling beekeepers as they prepare for the annual almond pollination season, which requires them to load their hives on flatbed trucks and drive thousands of miles cross-country to California. Beekeeping is not just a career for these people. It's their life and passion, a feeling made poignantly clear as each beekeeper fights back tears when they discover their hives are disappearing too. Through the personal stories of these three people, Simmons brings into focus a global problem, asking with an overwhelming sense of urgency, "What is the fate of our planet if the fate of our bees is in jeopardy?"
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