Honeyland

Honeyland is a documentary set in an abandoned village in rural Macedonia, where Hatidze Muratova, a woman in her fifties, tends colonies of wild bees housed in handmade baskets tucked among the rocks. She climbs the hillside to check on them without gloves or protective gear, works her hives, cares for her bedridden mother, and occasionally travels to the capital to sell honey. Her way of life follows a simple rule: take half the honey and leave half for the bees. That balance is disturbed when a nomadic family with seven children and a large herd of cattle settles on the neighboring land, bringing roaring engines and noise into her quiet world. Hatidze shares her experience and goodwill with the newcomers, but the family's patriarch makes decisions that threaten her livelihood and the bees she depends on.

The film is the feature debut of Ljubomir Stefanov and Tamara Kotevska, who also wrote it, with Atanas Georgiev and Stefanov producing. Hatidze, her mother Nazife, and neighbors Hussein and Ljutvie Sam appear as themselves. Made on a modest scale, it earned about 1 million USD worldwide, a solid return for a documentary. It holds an 8/10 on IMDb from 20,000 votes and 7.9/10 on TMDB from 311 votes. Critics rated it higher still, 8.4/10 across 128 reviews, above the audience scores. Stefanov and Kotevska next directed The Tale of Silyan in 2025.