Event

Colony

(Carter Gunn and Ross McDonnell, Ireland, 2009, DigiBeta, 87min) An award winner at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, Colony combines exquisite cinematography with a passionate call for action. The Seppi family has recently set up an apiary business in the lush orchards of California. With their tightly-buttoned shirts and belted pants, the God-fearing family toil many hours to ensure their bees are kept healthy and fit for the long haul around the fruit trees of the west coast. Yet the outlook for their business isn't good: all across America bees are vanishing. The so-called Colony Collapse Disorder is emptying the nation's hives, whether because of pesticides or a virus, no one is sure. This gorgeously shot film contemplates the tiny but powerful industry at the heart of modern farming, and how its failure could mean the collapse of food production as we know it.

"Colony may be one of the most aesthetically beautiful documentaries of the season, as well as one of the more urgent and intelligent." Variety.

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