Beekeeping in the End Times (public editing event)

Beekeeping in the End Times is a first cut of a documentary about small-scale beekeeping in Bosnia and Herzegovina, weathering the effects of climate change. Because honeybees among Bosnian Muslim beekeepers and bee lovers in Bosnia are more than pollinators—they are divinely inspired medicine makers, a prophetic species—their struggling through the strange new weather is an indication of an ecological catastrophe as well as the sign of the world’s unravelling. Honey, the substance that defines honeybees, the cherished fruit of divine revelation, seems to be vanishing. The film made by two co-directors--sisters and fellow beekeepers--relates the observed changes in local plant-insect relations as well as folk stories and Islamic lore about the signs of the time. This screening is an invitation to the audience to join the directors in the post-production process and help them making critical decisions about all the assembled components, from storyline and voiceover to the rhythm and music score.

About the Speakers:

Azra Jasarevic is an independent filmmaker. Since graduating from the International School for Film and Television, San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba, she has been working with the Freedom Front, a local activist group. She has been researching and filming the struggles of regional workers and the social justice movements in the context of post-socialist economic and environmental disasters. Ever a nature lover, she is also a part-time beekeeper. Along with Larisa Jasarevic, her sister, she is co-directing and co-producing the documentary Beekeeping in the End Times.

Dr Larisa Jasarevic is an independent scholar. An anthropologist, she has been conducting field research on local apicultures, honeybee ecologies in changing climates, and Islamic eschatology in Bosnia and Herzegovina, since 2014. Her second book, Beekeeping in the End Times (IUP) is in preparation. She taught for a decade at the University of Chicago. Currently, she is engaged in ethnographic filmmaking while beekeeping and homesteading on the side.

This lecture is part of the Environmental Futures Lecture Series curated by Dr Giulia Carabelli and sponsored by the Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences at Queen Mary University of London. This event is organised in collaboration with the Independent Social Research Foundation.

Programme:

12:00: Coffee and Refreshment

13:00- 14:30: Beekeeping in the End Times (screening)

14:30-15:00 Break

15:00-17:00 Discussion

Please note there is a limited number of seats available for this event, booking is essential.