Following a unique array of artists, beekeepers, scientists and environmentalists, Bee Queens – Collaborating with the Hive explores the universal fascination with the bee from a variety of different perspectives.

While beekeepers like Carmenie Stemmler tend their hives and make a living from the products of the honeybee, artists like Aganetha Dyck, Diane Borsato, and Penelope Stewart create magical artworks that celebrate the bee.  These artists and their works provide the visual context for the documentary, while other voices highlight actions challenging current threats to the existence of the bee.

Although the honeybee may be  the superstar of the bee population, conservation scientist and activist Sheila Colla foregrounds the myriad of other little-recognized bee species, pollinators who are vital to our world food supply.  Bee Queens – Collaborating with the Hive is a story of social commitment, political action, scientific research, artistry, and love, sounding an alarm about the effects of human activity and climate change on global bee populations.

The film will depict what we as humans are doing to aid this extinction and show the disastrous impact the elimination of the bee in all its various forms would have on humankind.  It will uncover the fascination and inspiration experienced by artists working with the bee and the beauty of collaboration with the natural world.