Honeyland (Macedonian: Медена земја, romanized: Medena zemja) is a 2019 Macedonian documentary film that was directed by Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov. It portrays the life of Hatidže Muratova, a lonely beekeeper of wild bees who lives in the remote mountain village of Bekirlija and follows her lifestyle before and after neighbors move in nearby. 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 Hatidže. Honeyland received its world premiere at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival on 28 January and it has grossed $1,315,037. Filming of Honeyland lasted three years, and 400 hours of footage were filmed. Several environmental topics are explored, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and exploitation of natural resources. The directors primarily focused on the visual aspects and wanted to portray humanity's balance with the ecosystem through Hatidže, and consumerism and resource depletion through her neighbors. The documentary also portrays Hatidže's relationships with her bedridden mother and her neighbors. Honeyland contains elements of several documentary styles, including fly on the wall, direct cinema, and cinéma vérité. Honeyland received universal critical acclaim from film critics, who praised its attention to detail and applauded its conservationist message. 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. Honeyland is the first documentary to receive a nomination in both categories in the history of the Oscars.
Plot Honeyland documents the life of Hatidže Muratova, a Macedonian beekeeper of Turkish descent, who lives in the village of Bekirlija in the municipality of Lozovo. She is one of the last keepers of wild bees in Europe. Due to its location in a secluded mountain, the village has no access to electricity and running water. Hatidže lives with her 85-year-old, partly blind and bedridden mother Nazife, who is completely dependent on her daughter. Hatidže earns a living by selling honey in the country's capital Skopje, which is four hours away from the village. The atmosphere in the village changes when the nomadic rancher Hussein Sam arrives with his wife Ljutvie, their seven children, and their imported domestic animals. Initially, Hatidže maintains good relationships with the family and spends time playing with the children. In need of money, and inspired by Hatidže's way of earning money, Sam takes an interest in wild beekeeping himself. Hatidže instructs him on collecting honey and provides him with several bees so Sam can start his own colony. Despite his initial success, one of Sam's customers demands more honey than his bees can produce. Sam disregards Hatidže's advice to always leave half of the honey for his bees and proceeds to sell the entire stock of honey. This leads to Sam's colonies attacking Hatidže's during the resource-scarce winter. Hatidže scolds Sam for ignoring her advice and her bee colony collapses. Soon after, her mother dies. As the nomadic family decides to move to another village, Hatidže remains alone in Bekirlija.
Conception and development
Honeyland is Tamara Kotevska's and Ljubomir Stefanov's second collaboration on a documentary movie after Lake of Apples (2017). The movie was originally intended as a government-funded documentary short focusing on the Bregalnica river and the preservation of the surrounding region in Lozovo municipality, central North Macedonia. The project was also part of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation's program for preservation of North Macedonia's natural resources. 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. Initially, the directors were planning to focus on the rotational farming practices of villagers inhabiting the area around Bregalnica. They also planned to follow the natural change of the river's flow that takes place every ten years. Upon arriving at the location, the film crew was introduced to Hatidže. Although initially reluctant to participate in the documentary, Hatidže agreed to get involved to send a message of sustainable living to the world. The film was going to focus on Hatidže's relationship with her mother and the directors had no conflict planned until the nomad family arrived sometime later. Hatidže and the nomad family were camera-shy at first but became used to the process as filming progressed. 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 during their first year of filming.
Filming and production
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