Artist, beekeeper, and energy healer Sara Mapelli performs a ritual dance in QUEEN OF THE SUN (photo by Ruby Bloom)
QUEEN OF THE SUN: WHAT ARE THE BEES TELLING US? (Taggart Siegel, 2010)
Cinema Village
22 East 12th St.
June 10-16, 1:00, 3:00, 5:00, 7:00, 9:00
212-924-3363
www.queenofthesun.com
www.cinemavillage.com
In a November 1923 lecture, Austian anthroposopher Rudolf Steiner said, “Perhaps you noticed something about the entire nature of beekeeping, something, I would say, of the nature of an enigma. The beekeeper is understandably interested above all in what must be done. Actually, every human being should show the greatest interest in this subject, because, much more than you can imagine, our lives depend upon beekeeping.” Steiner also predicted that bees would disappear from the face of the earth in eighty to one hundred years. Sadly, Taggart Siegel’s compelling documentary about colony collapse disorder, Queen of the Sun, reveals that Steiner just might be right. Siegel (The Real Dirt on Farmer John) meets with experts around the world, including author Michael Pollan, biodynamic beekeeper Gunther Hauk, philosopher Horst Kornberger, Indian activist and physicist Vandana Shiva, Slow Food International president Carlo Petrini, molecular biologist Johannes Wirz, entomologist May Berenbaum, and such serious, oddball, and quirky beekeepers as Yvon Archard, Michael Thiele, David Heaf, Gunther Friedmann, Massimo Carpinteri, Ron Breland, and Warren Thompson, who talk about how integral bees are not only to the natural environment but to the very future of humanity. They also proudly show off their rather close personal relationships with their queens and hardworking drones as they discuss the hazards of monoculture, corporate migratory beekeeping, pesticide usage, and other factors that have led to the frightening disappearance of millions of colonies. “We could call it colony collapse of the human being too,” Hauk says. The film, which also includes a look at the legal battle over beekeeping in New York City, begins and ends with artist, energy healer, and beekeeper Sara Mapelli performing a ritual dance covered with some twelve thousand bees. Queen of the Sun has built quite a buzz, having won awards at festivals around the world, including the Planet in Focus Film Festival; it opens at Cinema Village today for a one-week run, the perfect prelude to National Pollinator Week, which takes place June 20–26. You’ll never look at honey the same way again.