Honeyland (directed by Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov) is a documentary film that follows the life of a beekeeper, Hatidze Muratova, who lives with her elderly mother in an otherwise abandoned village in rural Macedonia. Hatidze Muratova. [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. 2023 Copyright France 24 - All rights reserved. Production with obstacles. hours of footage, honeyland centers on hatidze, a woman in her mid-fifties (we learn she was born in 1964) who sustains herself and her elderly, infirm mother with her honey business, keeping rows and rows of bees on their small plot in a rural (and apparently otherwise abandoned) town a four-hour walk from the city 1 movie of 2019. We are now very trained to see the stories that are created visually.". [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. Honeyland received universal critical acclaim from film critics, who praised its attention to detail and applauded its conservationist message. For more information about the series, and a complete schedule, visit IDA. The stylists shared her pictures, saying she is now ready to . 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. [55], Honeyland received its first monetary award prize of 30,000 from the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation at the 2019 Sarajevo Film Festival in late August 2019. When they were asking for my hand?, Hatidze seems to wonder about the paths her life might have taken. [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. 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. She now divides her time between the two villages. It's us but for your ears. But the life that extends beyond the movie itself is still felt within it, still gestured toward and honored, by the close personal . Nazife says she did not turn them down, but Hatidze's late father did. But there was big pressure from the public in Macedonia" for her to go to the Oscars. This is how we found our protagonist. 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. [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. 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. But Hatidze was longing for her own family. Honeyland is the first documentary to receive a nomination in both categories in the history of the Oscars. 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. Added Kotevska, That, for us, made it feel like we [were] watching a new film. 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. The film depicts how Ms. Muratova and Hussein Sam, a seminomadic farmer tried to coexist in one of the poorest pockets of North Macedonia. I think of an early shot of Hatidze sitting next to her mother in their dark, one-room home: she's gently lit, in her golden shirt . [26], Honeyland was ranked as the third-best documentary and twelfth-best foreign film of 2019 in a survey of over 300 critics around the world conducted by IndieWire. (and find out what happened to Hatidze). Sundance 2023: Slashed Streaming Budgets and Theatrical Woes Won't Dampen Sales (2019)/(),(),Honeyland. During postproduction, the two became locked in a dispute about a communal well in Bekirlija. Filming of Honeyland lasted three years, and 400 hours of footage was filmed. 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. Hatidze Muratova's grandfather taught her to harvest honey using ancient beekeeping traditions. "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. Hatidze Muratova in "Honeyland." (Neon) But "Honeyland" is not a fictional story about a good woman and an evil man; Hussein Sam's a desperate mannine mouths to feed is a massive . At the time of filming, Ms. Muratova lived year-round in Bekirlija, while Mr. Sams chaotic family usually only visited during the summer, disrupting Ms. Muratovas quiet existence. 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. We are filmmakers, not social workers.. Inside the house, the taps were dry, so Mr. Georgiev called the mayor to reconnect the water. That is until their nomadic neighbours, Hussein and Ljutvie Sam, moved in with their unruly herd of children, cows and chickens. Moments before leaving, Mr. Sam pulled him aside to ask why he hadnt been in contact so much during the coronavirus lockdown. In Honeyland, Hatidze's echo of paradise is most certainly lost. 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. 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. This led them to Hatidze Muratova, one of Europe's last wild beekeepers, who uses ancient methods passed down through the generations for harvesting wild honey. We dont understand Turkish. And this is her wish.. [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. It also made Ms. Muratova perhaps the worlds most famous beekeeper. But the documentary doesnt teach us much about cultivating honey. We have no option but to cope with it somehow," said Georgiev, who also edited the film. 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. This leads to Sam's colonies attacking Hatide's during the resource-scarce winter. The film shows that to be true of the people living in the region too. [14][35], The world premiere of Honeyland took place at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival on 28 January 2019. Ms.Kotevska withMs. Muratova in her new house. The directors say the film profoundly changed their lives. Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights. 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. Sign up for our Email Newsletters here. Hatidze Muratova, the star of the documentary Honeyland, was given a new house by the producers of the double Oscar nominated movie. Hatidze, star of the Oscar nominated Honeyland movie, gets a new house. So all the scenes with the dialogue, particularly, we didnt know whats going on there. The first reaction to her was probably a shock. When he and the two directors visited in July, they were immediately overwhelmed by a new barrage of issues. Hyperallergic speaks to the directors of the first film nominated for both the Best Documentary . Then there was a legal battle over an incident that predated the film, in which Ms. Muratova was attacked by Mr. Sams dogs. All pictures from Honeyland (directors: Tamara Kotevska and Ljubo Stefanov) are NEON copyright, unless otherwise stated, From World of Warcraft to conducting the Oscars, Ukrainian ministers killed in helicopter crash, Zelensky addresses world leaders after deadly helicopter crash, 15 minutes to defend yourself against death penalty. Honeyland has much to say about conserving nature, but its lessons are also about human life and relationships. [20][35] The finished film includes six of the twenty-five scenes portraying the relationship between the two. 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. Get The Latest IndieWire Alerts And Newsletters Delivered Directly To Your Inbox. Several environmental topics are explored, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and exploitation of natural resources. 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. Mr. Georgiev and Ms. Muratova visiting her new house in Dorfulija, which is still under construction. When the rules are broken, everyone pays the price. [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". She is an incredible woman, a natural optimist. Guests Expected. [17] Stefanov said, "The point is to take as much as you need, not to take everything, and leave [something] for tomorrow and those who are providing for you". She herself lives in what amounts to a hole in the rock, a cave-like hut where she tends her ancient mother as gently and patiently as she tends her bees. . Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Georgiev said it didn't quite fall so easily from the sky. A.O. To lessen the pressure on himself in refereeing the relationship, Mr. Georgiev created a foundation that works with the families independently of the crew. [63] Matilda Coleman of The New York Times dubbed the movie an "Oscar game changer" and stated with its two nominations, it paved the way for more success of the documentary genre in future Academy Award nominations. Hatide lives with her 85-year-old, partly blind and bedridden mother Nazife, who is completely dependent on her daughter. Mother Jones was founded as a nonprofit in 1976 because we knew corporations and billionaires wouldn't fund the type of hard-hitting journalism we set out to do. Until "Honeyland" -- the "non-fiction masterpiece" in which the village beekeeper appears -- won a record three awards at the Sundance film festival, Hatidze lived in a tiny mud and stone house without electricity and running water in the wilds of North Macedonia. We were very shocked to see this because it was obviously handmade, said Kotevska, and we started asking the locals around who they belonged to, who made them, and why. Read about our approach to external linking. After another year editing, their first feature film was born. All Rights Reserved. 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. 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. Because the crew couldn't understand the old Ottoman Turkish dialect she spoke to her mother, Georgiev did the first rough edit on mute. The death of Hatidzes two sisters has tasked her with caring for her dying mother alone. Honeyland. . That was largely thanks to Mr. Stefanov and his fellow filmmakers. 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. Still, the transformation of Ms. Muratovas life is not necessarily something to mourn, Mr. Stefanov said. 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. In one scene of the film, Hatidze asks her mother why she turned down offers of marriage that were brought for Hatidze. 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. After Hollywood, she will head there again in the spring and watch the stars from her little stone hut. [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". So we can probably say that the bees brought us to her.. France 24 - International breaking news, top stories and headlines. Related Scott from The New York Times viewed Hatide as a "heroic figure" who sends a message to her "wasteful, wanton neighbors". The project originally started as an environmental documentary about the river running through the center of Macedonia, but plans changed when the team discovered the beehives Hatidze tended in remote areas. Honeyland is the first film to compete for both the best documentary award and best international feature film. [23] Austin Chronicle's Josh Kupecki said the documentary is ultimately a "broader impact of humanity (in all its messy glory), and a document of so many things: grief, loss, happiness, and joy". July 26, 2019 11:07 pm. 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. [46] Writing for The Hollywood Reporter, Sheri Linden called it an "unforgettable vrit character study and an intimate look at an endangered tradition". [40] According to the website's critical consensus, "Honeyland uses life in a remote village to offer an eye-opening perspective on experiences that should resonate even for audiences halfway around the world". 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. Georgiev puts much of the film's phenomenal success down to Hatidze's "wonderful heart". We spent hours just thinking what to do with this material. 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. "Honeyland" introduces us to Hatidze Muratova, a great character and a natural-born movie star. But it's a message which is in danger of being lost in the modern world. The Oscar race is in full swing, and all eyes are on the big contenders: "Joker"! And Hatidze Muratova, one of the hamlet's last inhabitants and the star of " Honeyland ," was still waiting for the. 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. [22] Another theme covered in the movie is the motherdaughter relationship between Hatide and her bedridden mother, which cinematographer Ljuma and Kotevska described as resembling that between a queen bee and a worker bee. This is exemplified when she chants "half for me, half for you" to her bees when collecting honey. "We were doing it by instinct, and then as soon as we got the translations the plot was all there. 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 . VideoChess gets a risqu makeover, The Nigerian influencers paid to manipulate your vote, How a baffling census delay is hurting Indians, How Mafia boss was caught at a clinic after 30 years. When we first meet Hatidze, she is ascending the path from the rustic homestead she shares with her dying mother and her dog, Jackie, in search of wild bees in the surrounding hills. Listen on Apple Podcasts. Mr. Sam has a more haphazard way with his cows, viewing them almost as antagonists. Hatidze lives with her ailing mother in the mountains of Macedonia, making a living cultivating honey using ancient beekeeping traditions. 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. 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. [32] The documentary's producer Atanas Georgiev said the production team was "very eager" to send the message of sustainability to the citizens and the government of North Macedonia, and to prompt action to improve the country's air quality and reduce pollution.[33]. The home she lives in was purchased for her by the documentary filmmakers after they won their first award at the Sarajevo film festival. Macedonian directors Tamara Kotevska and Ljubo Stefanov were researching in a remote mountainous area of the country for a short nature documentary. We really enjoyed making this comparison during the shooting.". France 24 is not responsible for the content of external websites. 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. Most of the houses were still in ruins, slowly sliding into the undergrowth. Log in to Reply. Kotevska and Stefanov's camera captures the duo's nighttime bickering with remarkable intimacy, as. Perhaps this is why the most arresting imagery comes early on, before Hussein's family arrives kicking up dust with their animals and trucks. While translators worked to interpret the Macedonian dialect of Turkish the subjects spoke, Stefanov and Kotevska stitched a visual narrative that made sense and once the translations were added, they were surprised at what they found. Interviews with leading film and TV creators about their process and craft. Meanwhile, someone had pilfered Ms. Muratovas honey, and she blamed Mr. Sam. Hatidze gets very close to the bees, often using no protection. Description. 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 . In the end we came up with the best possible solution and that's to edit on mute. Ms. Muratova never married, while Mr. Sam and his wife, Ljutvie, have eight rambunctious children. [11][12] The project was also part of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation's program for preservation of North Macedonia's natural resources. Malika is the protagonist . 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. [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. Their conversations, which take place in the dark, cave-like interior of their home, are often quite funnythe daily bickering of two aging women. Can you pitch in a few bucks to help fund Mother Jones' investigative journalism? What caught the directors' interest early on was observing Hatidze's life and her relationship with her mother. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters. 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.". Watch out at the Oscars on Sunday for Hatidze Muratova. The directors say that wild beekeeping was something that only a few people in the region learned how to do. "Everyone has to do the same work to survive. The images in Honeyland are stunning.The film opens with images of a wide mountainous landscape, through which a tiny figure navigates. Gender shouldn't be the topic of discussion. 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. They noticed beehives behind a rock on the mountain where they were filming. "Marriage . 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. Then Mr. Sam wanted help with a grant application, and griped about the problem with the well. As Kotevska put it, this was her way of liberation.. Hatidze approaches a beehive on a cliff But her quiet existence is fundamentally changed when the nomadic Sam family, consisting of parents with seven unruly children, a noisy vehicle and a large. "Everything we've heard from Hatidze refers to bees. Agence France-presse / February 6, 2020 Deep within the Balkans, Hatidze Muratova is the last in a long line of Macedonian wild beekeepers. And even with her newfound fame, Ms. Muratova said she still remained true to her vocation. It's a poem including history"[19] and listed the film as best pick for 2019. Honeyland received its world premiere at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival on 28 January and it has grossed $1,315,037. "[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". ", Hatidze has travelled to Hollywood for the Oscars ceremony, and she has also been to several other film festivals, in places as far apart as New York, Switzerland, Sarajevo and Turkey. [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. [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". jQuery(document).ready(function(){prx("https:\/\/play.prx.org\/e?uf=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2Fbite-podcast&ge=gid%3A%2F%2Fart19-episode-locator%2FV0%2F_uYi-ThU9eQ57xy7hFwuLPL1rVvIRn7uZxGyUXEW1Jg", "prx-3", "embed")});Listen to the latest episode of Bite: Subscribe using Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app. You havent been calling, Mr. Sam said. BELGRADE, Serbia After taking the lead role in Oscar-nominated documentary Honeyland, Hatice (Atidze) Muratova left behind her previous life of poverty. Beekeeper Hatidze Muratova leads the filmmakers to the very . A conflict played out between human neighbours is also mirrored by the bees. 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.". She has been working with the bees all her life and everything she has learned, she learned from them.". [44] Guy Lodge, another Variety journalist, wrote in a positive review that in the "painstaking observational documentary, everything from the honey upwards is organic". Dan on January 31, 2020 at 11:01 am . 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. 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. Copyright 2023 Mother Jones and the Foundation for National Progress. 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. She described Hatide's case as a portrayal of "how consumerism destroys natural resources completely". The situation depicted in Honeyland is one in which the inept neighbours arriving with their cattle soon add beekeeping to their livelihood but do so in ways that put profits first and come to threaten Hatidze's bees. When matchmakers were coming, you didnt accept any? she asks her mother. Mr. Sam wanted its water for his cows, while Ms. Muratova said it was only for human use. We spotted Hatidze in the very beginning and just started shooting her. [62][34] It is also the second Macedonian film to earn an Oscar nomination after Before the Rain (1994). Hatidze Muratova,a beekeeper and the star of Honeyland, at her home in the remote mountain village of Bekirlija in North Macedonia. Hatidze Muratova, the protagonist of "Honeyland. 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.

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