Bees, Butterflies, Insects / Films / Movies

More Than Honey, the Worldwide Honeybee Crisis

by Jennie Richards · Published August 30, 2017 · Updated July 19, 2021

“Einstein underlined the symbiotic relationship that bees have with mankind: “If bees were to disappear from the globe,” he predicted, “mankind would only have four years left to live.”

Academy Award-nominated director Markus Imhoof (The Boat Is Full) travels the world to investigate why bees are dying in massive numbers. Through breathtaking and awe-inspiring macro-photography, Imhoof captures the fascinating lives of bees by examining them up close. From California to Switzerland, China and Australia, Imhoof tackles the perplexing and challenging issue of colony collapse disorder, the possible causes, impacts, and what it means to our survival.

Over the past 15 years, numerous colonies of bees have been decimated throughout the world, but the causes of this disaster remain unknown. Depending on the world region, 50% to 90% of all local bees have disappeared, and this epidemic is still spreading from beehive to beehive – all over the planet. Everywhere, the same scenario is repeated: billions of bees leave their hives, never to return. No bodies are found in the immediate surroundings, and no visible predators can be located.

Film Release: June 2013

Film Length: 1 Hour / 35 Minutes

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Learn More About Bees

To learn more about honeybees, pollination, Colony Collapse Disorder, political legislation, and free beekeeping information, visit: The American Beekeeping Federation

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Visit our page for how you can help: Saving Bees and Butterflies

Film Reviews

More Than Honey Movie Reviews, The Washington Post

More Than Honey, A Review, Scientific American

Statistics

Apis mellifera (the honey bee) appeared on Earth 60 million years before man and is as indispensable to the economy as it is to man’s survival
80% of plant species require bees to be pollinated. Without bees, there is no pollenization, and fruits and vegetables could disappear from the face of the Earth
In the U.S., the latest estimates suggest that a total of 1.5 million (out of 2.4 million total beehives) have disappeared across 27 states. In Germany, according to the national beekeepers association, one-fourth of all colonies have been destroyed, with losses reaching up to 80% on some farms. The same phenomenon has been observed in Switzerland, France, Italy, Portugal, Greece, Austria, Poland and England, where this syndrome has been nicknamed “the Mary Celeste Phenomenon,” after a ship whose crew vanished in 1872

Quotes from the Film

“If the bees ever die out, mankind will die four years later.”

“Our business relies entirely on pollination by bees (almond growers).”

“Pure nature, no pesticides, no poisons.”

“What’s causing the bees to die? They are dying as a result of man. Of our civilizations’ success. A combination of pesticides, mites, antibiotics, and stress.”

“Classic Colony Collapse Disorder – no queen, 20 friends and nothing else. This is a total loss, and we don’t know why. Just gone. Plenty of pollen, plenty of nectar. I’m getting real comfortable with death on an epic scale.”

“No other country can afford to ask the question currently being posed at the University of Beijing, who is better at pollinating? Man or bee? Science answers with a definite – NOT MAN!”

“I’m backed into a corner, and I fight back with what I have. After the stressful journey, the bees are given sugar-water mixed with antibiotics. In Europe, North America and China, the honeybee can no longer survive without drugs.”

“It’s a 4-5 week life span. Bees filter out the toxins with their own bodies. They sacrifice themselves.”

“It took 4 billion bees a whole month to produce these mountains of almonds.” (California Almond Farm)

“In each bee family, 2,000 bees die every day, and 2,000 bees are born.”

“Bees remain true to one type of flower. They don’t fly to a different type of flower, until they finish the work they started.”

“We don’t keep bees the way my dad did. He was running 1500 hives, we’re running 10 times that.”

“Drones mate in the air. The queen is the mother of all the bees in the hive. She lays up to 50,000 eggs a day, the equivalent of her own body mass. The other bees tend to her needs, care for her, feed and clean her. When she dies, the bees must raise a new queen, it can take a whole month.”

“A scout bee will go out alone to find a suitable nest site, then come back once one is found, and notify the bees. Then once they reach a consensus, they will all fly together to the new site.”

“The eggs produce either infertile male drone bees or fertile female worker bees.”

“The larvae pupates and three weeks later the worker bee is born, three days later the male drones are born. The male drones are fed the whole life long by worker bees in order to fly the long flights.”

“My grandfather steals the honey from the bees, it’s not a gift from the bees.”

“The bees decide when they want a new queen, and build up a special cell for her. The old queen will leave and take the bees with her, which motivates the old hive to find a queen.”

“There can only be one queen in a colony, there are never two queens.”

“The drone dies after fertilizing the queen, in flight during mating. The queen keeps 5 million sperm in her, where they can stay alive for up to 8 years.”

“Single queens are sold to 58 countries, as well as artificial swarms, 4-6 pounds of loose bees in a box, with a separately packed queen.”

“Migratory beekeeper – we go to where the bees have the most opportunity to thrive. That takes us across America, we go from California for the almonds in the early spring, then to Washington for apples, cherries and apricots, then to North Dakota for the summer, then by October we begin to close the circle.”

“The longer bees stay in the box on the truck in transport, the more unhealthy they are. It’s not natural to have them on the truck, they are unable to fly, they don’t like to be transported.”

Film Awards

German Film Award Lola for Best Documentary Film 2013
Swiss Film Award Quartz Best Documentary Film 2013
Swiss Film Award Quartz Best Film Score 2013
Austria ROMY Award for Best Director Documentary Film 2013
Austria ROMY Award for Best Documentary Film 2013
Austrian Film Award for Best Sound Design 2013
Bavarian Film Award for Best Documentary Film 2013
Zürich Film Award Best Documentary Film 2012
Audience Award Solothurn Film Festival 2013 Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Best Documentary Award 2013
Best Feature Award Green Film Festival San Francisco 2013
Audience Award UK Green Film Festival 2013
Audience Award Pelicam International Film Festival 2013