Oscars 2020: how best documentary and international feature nominee Honeyland changed the life of its filmmakers
- Directors Ljubomir Stefanov and Tamara Kotevska talk about their documentary Honeyland
- The story of a traditional beekeeper in rural North Macedonia has been nominated for two Oscars
Since they first screened Honeyland at the Sundance film festival in January 2019, directors Ljubomir Stefanov and Tamara Kotevska have toured relentlessly, bringing their documentary to dozens of film festivals around the world.
“We didn’t plan this,” Stefanov said of Honeyland’s success on the festival circuit, when he and Kotevska spoke to the Post in a recent interview in New York.
Honeyland began as a commissioned work from an environmental group, only to evolve into an entirely different film as the two explored rural North Macedonia. They were drawn to Hatidze Muratova, a beekeeper working from traditions centuries old. By following her life over several years, they found a way to tackle some of society’s biggest problems.
“It describes us,” Stefanov says of the film’s appeal. “It shows how greediness works, on a very basic level. You see it in a remote place, but everywhere else in the world greed works the same. You have a good life and somebody comes and says, ‘I will give you more.’ And you think, ‘Give me more’.”