Bee Urban is an independent production by Kristian Buus and Scott Radnor.
All work is copyright Kristian Buus and Scott Radnor.
This taster version of Bee Urban is supported by Capital Growth
www.capitalgrowth.org/bees/
The Bee Urban film is an exploration of bee keeping in London.
We discovered that hidden on the rooftops of London and in secret gardens are a growing number of beehives tended by urban apiarists (beekeepers). We were intrigued: Who are these people? How do they go about it? Why are they doing it? Do they love honey that much? How does this ancient relationship between humans and bees carry over into the 21st century metropolis?
We sought out answers from those keeping bees; from old hands to young upstarts; Luke: who looks after bees around the city centre at locations such as the London School for Economics, The Lancaster Hotel and The National Magazine House in Soho amongst many sites.. Chris and Maylynn: a young couple who have started to help out with beekeeping at their local community garden, and are hoping to get their own hive. Ian Bailey, keen beekeeper from North East London and wise words of Chris Deaves from the British Beekeeping Association. Talking to and following these apiarists we ended up in some beautiful places. We got the bees eye view, seeing incredible views across the city and finding beautiful walled gardens. All the while we continued our quest to find out how does beekeeping, and how do bees fit in with modern urban life? Are the bees dying out? Is keeping bees in the city a good thing?
We have found some answers to our questions and weaved these stories together creating a poetic exploration of humans and nature in the modern urban environment.
What you will see here is a taster of the film Bee Urban, still in production.
Enjoy the buzz.
Kristian Buus is a professional photographer based in London.
He works for both international and national media outlets and extensively for third sector organisations. His work has taken him to both the Middle East and Africa several times but a lot of his work is in and around London. Over the past year Kristian has begun making short films, Bee Urban will be his first longer production. In the Bee Urban Project he is applying both his skills as a filmmaker and stills photographer; resulting in a documentary film and a series of still images.
www.kristianbuus.com
Scott Radnor has worked professionally with film and video for over 12 years as a filmmaker, editor and artist. His work ranges from arts and current affairs documentaries for international broadcasters such as the BBC, Channel 4, Sky Arts and Al Jazeera – to film projects with organisations such as the Tate, British Council. Scott has also exhibited artworks in London Sao Paulo and Geneva, in 2011 he directed and produced a series of HD film shorts entitled ‘The Monologues Project’ which was funded by the arts council. In 2010 he started to make the Bee Urban film about bee and beekeeping in the city with photojournalist and film cameraman Kristian Buus.
