Private Project

Not your bee

In other continents than Europe, wild honey bees are very common. Feral European honey bees are probably extinct, and should they exist, they would have no legal status. For the EU, honey bees are livestock. Period. But some people strongly oppose this view. Artists and activists are raising awareness that the honey bee is not OUR bee. Some people even explore the woods in search of feral honey bees. Are we about to witness the rebirth of wild European honey bees, a species that no longer needs human support?

  • Dimi Dumortier
    Director
    The wild bees that keep us; World's Smallest Grande Armée; Spiegelbeeld/zoon van een allochtoon; Hitchtanbul
  • Dimi Dumortier
    Writer
    Pozallo Pirates (The Art-Pirates Fighting For Migrant Rights); The wild bees that keep us; World's Smallest Grande Armée, Hitchtanbul
  • Dimi Dumortier
    Producer
    Pozzallo Pirates (The Art-Pirates Fighting For Migrant Rights)
  • Antoine Angeli
    Producer
    The wild bees that keep us
  • Patrick Kohl
    Key Cast
  • Benjamin Rutschmann
    Key Cast
  • Toon Angeli
    Key Cast
  • Hendrik Haers
    Key Cast
  • Manfred Süssen
    Key Cast
  • AnneMarie Maes
    Key Cast
  • Louis De Cordier
    Key Cast
  • Tim Joye
    Key Cast
  • William Phlips
    Key Cast
  • André Wermelinger
    Key Cast
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Not your bee
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 25 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    April 15, 2022
  • Production Budget:
    93,000 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Belgium
  • Country of Filming:
    Belgium, Germany, Spain, Switzerland
  • Language:
    Dutch, German, Swiss German
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    21:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Dimi Dumortier

DIMI DUMORTIER (born January 22, 1966 in Brecht, Belgium) is a filmmaker, painter, musician, actor and social worker. Together with Karsten De Vilder, he directed two road documentaries about adventurous traveling: Hitchtanbul (Hitchhiking from Belgium to Istanbul) and World’s Smallest Grande Armée (walking 1000 km to re-enact Napoleon’s Russian winter campaign). They later founded a production house called Ducktape, specialised in short documentaries on social topics.

In 2015, Ducktape & Rik Merchie produced a documentary on a guerrilla art installation that served as a wake-up call for Northern Europe. In the eyes of the makers, the immigrants who died trying crossing the Mediterranean to reach Europe's shores were not just Italy's problem. This film, Pozzallo Pirates, was shown on Flemish television.

In 2017, Dimi Dumortier went to Laos, where he made his first bee movie The Wild Bees That Keep Us. His second movie about bees is called Not Your Bee (release April 2022)

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Director Statement

For about 20 years, I had a very active art practice. I painted, sculpted and made all kinds of installations. Though I got very nice responses to my work, the impact of my message remained limited. Making video's is much more rewarding in this regard. Since I started making documentaries, I really feel that I can make a difference. It doesn't even take a finished movie to see the process of change take place, as I've seen with the movie Not Your Bee. Even before I filmed my first footage, I witnessed that people around me started looking at nature from a different perspective. All it took was a crowdfunding campaign with a clear and simple message. Not only was the crowdfunding very successful, but I suddenly saw a whole new bee friendly vegetation popping up in my friends gardens.