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Honeyland

A film by Ljubomir Stefanov and Tamara Kotevska

June 27, 2022
Monday 6.30 for 7pm
Tickets £5 suggested donation on Eventbrite
Booking essential as places are limited

Unit Four: The Cornucopia Room, 4 Towerdykeside, Hawick TD9 9EA


FILMS FOR CHANGE presents HONEYLAND produced by Atanas Georgiev

Nestled in an isolated mountain region deep within the Balkans, Hatidze Muratova lives with her ailing mother in a village without roads, electricity or running water. She’s the last in a long line of Macedonian wild beekeepers, eking out a living farming honey in small batches to be sold in the closest city – a mere four hours’ walk away. Hatidze’s peaceful existence is thrown into upheaval by the arrival of an itinerant family, with their roaring engines, seven rambunctious children and herd of cattle. Hatidze optimistically meets the promise of change with an open heart, offering up her affections, her brandy and her tried-and-true beekeeping advice.

It doesn’t take long however, before Hussein, the itinerant family’s patriarch, senses opportunity and develops an interest in selling his own honey. Hussein has seven young mouths to feed and nowhere to graze his cattle, and he soon casts Hatidze’s advice aside in his hunt for profit. This causes a breach in the natural order that provokes a conflict with Hatidze that exposes the fundamental tension between nature and humanity, harmony and discord, exploitation and sustainability. Even as the family provides a much-needed respite from Hatidze’s isolation and loneliness, her very means of survival are threatened.

The debut feature from documentarians Ljubo Stefanov and Tamara Kotevska Honeyland was shot over three years by a skeleton crew committed to an intimate collaboration between filmmakers and subject. It’s a tough and tender portrait of the delicate balance between humankind and nature, a glimpse at a fast disappearing way of life, and an unforgettable testament to one extraordinary woman’s resilience.

Hatidze’s story is a microcosm for a wider idea of how closely intertwined nature and humanity are, and how much we stand to lose if we ignore this fundamental connection.

Read the review by Christopher Trillo in Cornucopia 62


Email: projects@cornucopia.net
Telephone: +44 (0)1450 379933
Website: Go to website ......
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