The Bee: A Reflection on Women, Land, and Occupation

Director: Nelson Varas-Díaz

Producers: Sheilla Rodríguez-Madera, Mark Padilla, Daniel Nevárez Araújo

Philadelphia Premiere

Country of Production: United States & Puerto Rico

Date of Completion: 2023

Duration of Film: 29 Minutes

This documentary follows a feminist group of women beekeepers living on the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico. Twenty years have passed since the US Navy stopped using Vieques as a bombing range. Still, the locals continue to live through the legacy of a military that savagely displaced the population and affected the use of their land. Through an ethnographic approach, we accompany the women of the “Colmena Cimarrona” (Maroon Beehive) during one week of their work as they aim to revitalize the land via agriculture and beekeeping.