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| Image from Queen of the Sun documentary. (Copyright, Queen of the Sun) |
DAVIS--Bee specialists and others interested in bees are buzzing about the award-winning, grassroots feature documentary, “Queen of the Sun: What Are the Bees Telling Us?”
A weeklong premiere showing will take place June 17-23 at the Varsity Theatre, 616 Second St., Davis. Showings are at 6:30 nightly.
Bee specialists at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, UC Davis, recently watched the film in the Laidlaw facility. The group included Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen; native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, emeritus professor of entomology; bee breeders-geneticists Susan Cobey and Kim Fondrk, and research associate Elizabeth Frost.
The documentary is described as “a profound, alternative look at the global bee crisis from Taggart Siegel," critically acclaimed director of the grassroots hit, “The Real Dirt on Farmer John.”
Queen of the Sun draws from the insights of Rudolf Steiner an Austrian scientist who, in 1923, predicted that in 80 to 100 years, bees would disappear. “The mechanization of beekeeping and industrialization will eventually destroy beekeeping,” Steiner said. Gunther Hauk, a main character in the film and a protégé of Steiner’s, begins to build what he calls "the first bee sanctuary in the world," a 600-acre farm to help support the bees in crisis.
Among the organizations involved in helping promote the Davis screening:
Davis Community Garden
Davis Food Co-op
Davis Waldorf School
Sierra Club, Mother Lode Chapter
Sierra Club, Yolano Chapter
Cool Davis
The Cool Davis Initiative is a coalition of citizens, the city of Davis, and community organizations working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
More information on the documentary is on the Queen of the Sun website and on the Varsity Theatre website. Outreach coordinator is Annabelle Gardner (
503) 232-5345 or
annabelle@collectiveeye.org
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894
