A honey bee documentary film worth watching: Colony. My husband and I saw it at the tiny Northwest Film Forum on Capitol Hill in Seattle — a 49-seat theater with old-fashioned movie seats and a pre-film crowd of local beekeepers, including a host of two of our own hives. There was lively bee talk before the screening started.
What Colony is About
Colony follows three interwoven themes. The first is the disappearance of honey bee hives just before the 2009 California almond pollination — colony collapse disorder at industrial scale. The second is the disappearance of beekeepers from the profession altogether. The third is a documentary portrait of the Seppi family: two young beekeeping brothers in their early twenties with a contract to provide hives for an almond grower at $170 per hive.
The cause of colony collapse had not been determined as of the film. The hive rental price was being renegotiated downward by the almond grower. The Seppi brothers were caught between an insistent mother and economic realities of early-career beekeeping. It is simultaneously about bees and about family — both under pressure from forces outside their control.
Who Should Watch It
If you are an experienced beekeeper, you will enjoy the portrait of the hive-bound Seppi brothers and recognize the pressures they face. If you are not a beekeeper, you will learn about a situation that could affect food prices and supply if there are not enough bees — or beekeepers — to meet the demand of industrial agriculture. Additionally, the Irish folk music score by the Clogs is a nice touch despite the entirely American subject matter.