Planet in Focus International Environmental Film & Video Festival 2010

A poetic and passionate homage to bees and beekeepers, Queen of the Sun is both soulful and scientific. The documentary follows passionate beekeepers and philosophers around the world as they grapple with colony collapse disorder, the crisis of the world’s bees’ sudden disappearance from their hives, pointing their collective finger at culprits like artificial insemination, pesticides and monoculture farming. With daunting statistics, intimate conversations and luminous shots, Siegel issues a wake-up call to audiences while honouring these ancient, sacred insects. At once uplifting and alarming, Queen of the Sun explores the problems and solutions we face as we strive to coexist with nature in meaningful and beneficial ways. Juana Awad