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Directed by: Peter Nelson
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Released: 2020 (educational)
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Year of Production: 2019
Running Time: 92 min
Language: English
Subtitle Options: English Closed Captions
Subjects: Environmental Studies, Science and Nature
Bees are in serious danger. Populations of honey bees are dying at levels that are unprecedented. Close to half of the bee colonies in the United States die off every single year.
Thousands of semi-trailers crisscross the country in the dead of night delivering goods through the darkness to stores, warehouses and factories nationwide. But some of them carry highly unusual cargo. Honey bees.
Tens of billions of them are transported back and forth from one end of the United States to the other in a unique annual migration that’s indispensable to the feeding of America. One out of every three bites we eat, the growth of almost all our fruits, nuts and vegetables, would be impossible without pollination from bees.
Director Peter Nelson talks to farmers, scientists, chefs, and academics along the way to give a broad perspective about the threats to honey bees, what it means to our food security and how we can improve it.
World Premiere at 2019 Big Sky Documentary Film Festival and Winner of 11 Awards Including DOCFest for Best Environmental Filmmaking and VIFF Rob Stewart Eco Warrior Award
Recently won BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE - San Luis Obispo International Film Festival
"The trials of the humble honeybee are magnified to epic proportions in the meticulous, magnificent documentary"..."an intelligent vision of nature. What’s pleasing to the eye is pleasing to the earth — a sentiment the film rigorously supports with science."
-The New York Times
“You can really participate in making a change, through education, through action, through becoming a beekeeper, through gardening – all of those things are super important to this issue and really can make a difference. 'this film,' and the health of the honeybee, 'is only important if you eat food.'" -The Guardian
"Alarmed at the breakdown of our ecosystem and threats to our food supply, and by extension, ourselves? The gorgeously shot “The Pollinators” not only provides a warning but is solutions-based." - G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle
“The Pollinators” provides a beautiful and unflinching look at bees’ trouble-filled lives and tells us something we must pay attention to. However, it does so with hopefulness, expressed by the farmers and scientists who say there is a path to making bees and our land healthy again."
-Katherine Lee, AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science)
“The Pollinators” gives a detailed picture of the commercial bee industry in the United States and examines the ongoing threats to bees. "The Pollinators" will give you and your students a deeper understanding of how important bees are to agriculture, and how you can take positive steps to support the recovery of bees nationwide." -Jacob Clark Blickenstaff, NSTA
About the filmmaker
Peter Nelson has photographed a wide variety of feature films, commercials, and documentaries in a multitude of film and video formats. His signature naturalistic style has taken him around the world to capture life as it happens for fiction and non-fiction films alike. Feature credits include Emmy award-winning ART & COPY, SICKO, A TALE OF TWO PIZZAS, PIPE DREAM, SUITS and the cult New York romantic comedy ED'S NEXT MOVE which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. He has done domestic and international documentary work for PBS, HBO, BBC and Granada Television. Recent commercial work includes campaigns for Google, BlackRock, Dunkin Donuts, Dell, SBLI, ESPN/NASCAR, and Perdue. Other commercial credits include spots for PBS, Stop and Shop, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Lifetime, Coca-Cola, Champion and Calvin Klein. Peter received a BFA in Film and Television from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.
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