Honeyland Film Screening
March 11 - 18, 2022
Presented with the Â鶹´«Ã½ Film Group
As part of the SWARM exhibition and in partnership with the SWARM collective and the Â鶹´«Ã½ Film Group, Gallery 1C03 is thrilled to present a free virtual screening of Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov’s feature film Honeyland.
Â鶹´«Ã½ the film
“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.”
Honeyland will be available to stream for free as part of the Â鶹´«Ã½ Film Group's Cinematheque at Home program from March 11th, 12:00 AM CT until March 18th, 11:59 PM CT. Honeyland is 90 minutes long. Dialogue in Turkish with English subtitles. Content Advisories: physical violence, death.
This screening emerges from the SWARM collective, a team of 8 artist-researchers working out of the greenhouse artlab at the University of Â鶹´«Ã½, who consider the film's themes and concepts nestled at the intersection of contemporary art and cross-species relationalities. They ask: what can be learned from the bees in this time of climate crisis? What might happen and what might we notice when we start-with and centre the beyond human in creative and research-based processes?
SWARM invited visual artist Valérie Chartrand to write a response to the film in light of her work with pollinators and other insects. You can read Chartrand's response after March 3, 2022 on the .
Â鶹´«Ã½ the Respondent
’s practice focuses on the loss of biodiversity and reduction in insect populations due to climate change and human interference in insect life cycles. She explores the decline in species primarily through imprint techniques using found insects and non-toxic materials. Research, process and experimentation are at the core of her practice. Materiality is an important consideration as she selects materials and techniques based on their characteristics and relation to the explorations she is pursuing.
Valérie has participated in several artist residencies and group exhibitions. Her first solo exhibition Ghost Hives took place at La Maison des artistes in Â鶹´«Ã½ in 2017. Valérie completed her Master of Fine Arts degree through Emily Carr University of Art and Design in 2021.