Wild Honey: Caring for bees in a divided land

Synopsis

For more than a century, the island of Timor has been divided by a colonial border. Timor’s migratory wild honey bees challenge this division. In community honey harvest rituals, queen bees are courted in a ceremony by men who climb high into the canopy to sing nocturnal forest love songs. This observational film portrays a border community who are determined to maintain the bees’ movement across the region and preserve their shared identity. “Wild Honey” is the outcome of a long-term collaboration between researchers Balthasar Kehi and Lisa Palmer and the people of Kehi’s homeland of Lookeu.