More Than Honey

Summary

More than Honey

Billions of bees disappear every year. Despite intensive research, science has not managed to come up with a definite explanation. This is worrying because there is more at stake than honey. Even Albert Einstein allegedly said: "If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left." Today the bee is one of the most important farm animals within the agricultural industry. Without pollination services provided by billions of honeybees, a large part of our fruit and vegetables would never end up in our supermarkets. The dependency is mutual. It is not just humans profiting from the bees – but vice versa. The bee followed in man's footsteps in its worldwide expansion. But now the balance of power seems to shift. Is it just a momentary fluke or are we facing the early stages of total system collapse? Is it the bees? Or is it us?

The Oscar®-nominated director Markus Imhoof – himself grandson of a professional beekeeper – sets out on an international journey to find answers. Not only in Austria do queen breeders send their bees all over the world – by post. A US-American beekeeper transports his 15,000 colonies from one pesticide poisoned monoculture to the next while trying to keep them alive with antibiotics. In the mountains of Switzerland an old beekeeper protects his purebred original bees against all alien influence, yet they die of incest-induced weakness. And because the chemicals have killed all bees, workers in China have to climb the trees themselves for pollination … Everybody talks about the death of the bees. "More Than Honey" talks about their lives. And about ours.

Source: German Films Service & Marketing GmbH