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Box Office Magazine calls QUEEN OF THE SUN “The feel-good advocacy movie of the year.”

While spring pollination has begun for the bees, we’re busy cross-pollinating with all of you throughout the country and the world to get the message out about the struggles facing honeybees and ALL pollinators.

Here’s some of the latest news from the past exciting month for QUEEN OF THE SUN.

QUEEN OF THE SUN: What Are the Bees Telling Us? is NOW opening in over 50 theaters over the next three months, thanks to the help of all of you and countless wonderful grass-roots organizations who have helped support releases and community events for QUEEN OF THE SUN across the country. There are also a number of wonderful community screenings happening in communities that may not have independent theaters.

CLICK HERE To find where QUEEN OF THE SUN is playing near you.

We’ve been humbled to receive many wonderful reviews in the past few weeks, including a major acknowledgment from Box Office Magazine, who just wrote a glowing review of the film calling QUEEN OF THE SUN “The feel-good advocacy movie of the year.” The Minneapolis Star-Tribune calls the film, “A honey of a documentary” and the Bay Area Reported wisely noted, “Colony Collapse Disorder should be a planetary wake up call akin to Rachel Carson’s 1960s pesticide expose Silent Spring.”

Recently, the U.N. released a scientific study confirming that bee decline is a global issue. “Of the 100 crop species that provide 90 percent of the world’s food, over 70 are pollinated by bees.” The head of the U.N. Environmental Programme warns. “The writing is on the wall. We have to do something to ensure pollination for future generations.”

This U.N. report signals a renewed urge for all of us to spread the word about the problems facing the bees in an effort to wake the world up to the systemic problems of industrialized agriculture, beekeeping, and to the ever increasing problem of habitat loss and pesticide use to our pollinators.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE U.N. STUDY

There are many ways to help the bees, visit our 10 Ways to Help page to learn many different ways you can contribute. With spring in the air, perhaps a good start is just to go out and plant some wildflowers and flowering herbs. The bees will appreciate it!

Warm Regards,

Taggart, Jon & The Queen of the Sun Team

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QUEEN OF THE SUN is now in theaters! Over 50 U.S. Cities March through June.

QUEEN OF THE SUN: What Are the Bees Telling Us? is in theaters now! Over 50 Cities are booked for March – June.

Additionally we are opening across New Zealand during the month of April.

A schedule of U.S. cities can be found below.

Check here for a complete list of theaters, dates and showtimes.

THEATER DATES:

  • Opens MAR 25 : SAN FRANCISCO, CA / LARKSPUR, CA /
  • Opens MAR 25 : PORTLAND, ME / COLUMBIA, SC / NEVADA CITY, CA
  • Opens MAR 28 : MILWAUKEE, WI / ALBUQUERQUE, NM
  • Opens MAR 30 : PAONIA, CO
  • Opens APR 8 : BERKELEY, CA / SANTA ROSA, CA / CONCORD, NH
  • Opens APR 9 : BAINBRIDGE ISLAND, WA
  • Opens APR 14 : NEWPORT, RI
  • Opens APR 16 : ROSENDALE, NY
  • Opens EARTH DAY – APR 22 : PORTLAND, OR / ASTORIA, OR / SALEM, OR / EUGENE, OR / ASHLAND, OR
  • Opens EARTH DAY – APR 22 : SANTA FE, NM / ITHACA, NY / BIRMINGHAM, MI
  • Opens APR 23 : BRUNSWICK, ME
  • Opens APR 26 : ANN ARBOR, MI
  • Opens APR 27 : TUCSON, AZ
  • Opens APR 29 : CHICAGO, IL / MADISON, WI / HARTFORD, CT
  • Opens MAY 4 : AMHERST, MA
  • Opens MAY 6 : PHOENIXVILLE, PA / LANSDOWNE, PA
  • Opens MAY 8 : AUSTIN, TX
  • Opens MAY 11: UTICA, NY
  • Opens MAY 13 : LINCOLN, NE
  • Opens MAY 15: CUPERTINO, CA
  • Opens MAY 17 : HONOLULU, HI
  • Opens MAY 20: HELENA, MT
  • Opens MAY 21: PITTSBURGH, PA
  • Opens MAY 26 : PLEASANTVILLE, NY
  • Opens JUNE 10: MANHATTAN, NYC

For theaters and exact screening times visit our screenings page.

Recommend a theater to us HERE.

Thanks to all of you, we are expanding to new theaters every week!

No theatrical bookings in your area? Check our screening page for special one-night events that may be happening near you.

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EPA knowingly allowed bee-killing pesticide onto the market

A leaked document from the EPA shows that the agency has knowingly allowed a highly toxic pesticide for bees, to be sold and used nationwide by Bayer, the third-largest producer of pesticides in the world.

Below is an except from Tom Philpott’s in-depth Grist.org article on the recent leak which came into the hands of a Colorado beekeeper.

“An internal EPA memo released Wednesday confirms that the very agency charged with protecting the environment is ignoring the warnings of its own scientists about clothianidin, a pesticide from which Bayer racked up €183 million (about $262 million) in sales in 2009.”

Shocking is the clarity of their scientists language in the leaked study itself–

“Clothianidin’s major risk concern is to nontarget insects (that is, honey bees). Clothianidin is a neonicotinoid insecticide that is both persistent and systemic. Acute toxicity studies to honey bees show that clothianidin is highly toxic on both a contact and an oral basis.”

And perhaps most frightening:

“On Thursday, I asked an EPA press spokesperson via email if the scientists’ opinion would inspire the agency to remove clothianidin from the market. The spokesperson, who asked not to be named but who communicated on the record on behalf of the agency, replied that clothianidin would retain its registration and be available for use in the spring.”

As a reaction to this report, Pesticide Action Network has issued a petition straight to the the head of the EPA herself. Please click to sign this important petition: http://action.panna.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=5370

And, over 1 million people have signed a petition to ban neonicotinoid pesticides around the globe, please sign this important petition as well: https://secure.avaaz.org/en/save_the_bees/?vl

Help the U.S. join a the governments of France, Germany, Italy and Slovenia who have banned forms of neonicotinoid pesticides.

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The full report on the leak from Grist.org: http://www.grist.org/article/food-2010-12-10-leaked-documents-show-epa-allowed-bee-toxic-pesticide-

A shorter take on the leak from Natural News: http://www.naturalnews.com/030921_EPA_pesticides.html

Queen of The Sun: What Are the Bees Telling Us? is a new film from Taggart Siegel, acclaimed director of the grassroots hit THE REAL DIRT ON FARMER JOHN. Queen of The Sun is a profound, alternative lookat the global bee crisis which reveals both the problems and the solutions in renewing a culture in balance with nature.

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Queen of the Sun receives IDA Pare Lorentz Award, Honorable Mention

Written by Jon Betz

Traveling down to L.A. to the IDA Awards (held at the DGA Theater) was a huge honor last Friday evening. Both Taggart and I donned our sport jackets (a rarity) and were proud to both attend the Awards Ceremony and to receive the Pare Lorentz Award, Honorable Mention (!) for Queen of The Sun. Nominees for the Pare Lorentz Award in past years have included such well-known films as The Cove, Food Inc. & Garbage Warrior.

It was hugely meaningful to be recognized among the ranks of such praised filmmakers as Lucy Walker with her Best Documentary and Pare Lorentz Winner “Waste Land”, Barbara Kopple (Harlan County USA) who received the Lifetime Achievement Award and Alan & Susan Raymond, whose ground-breaking television series “An American Family” made waves and pre-dated the first reality TV. It also didn’t hurt to have the awards interspersed by the host for the evening, Supersize Me‘s hilarious Morgan Spurlock, whose stand-up comedy and ad-lib kept the audience laughing.

One thing I don’t think either of us expected is how inspiring the ceremony would be for both of us. Speeches by Joe Berlinger, whose legal battles with his film “Crude”, have protected the first amendment rights of all documentary filmmakers really brought to my attention the responsibility we have as documentarians in a world where modern news media sometimes has too many corporate interests invested to tell the whole truth.

Other speeches, such as those given by the filmmakers of “Presumed Guilty”, a film about the Mexican justice system which is exposing for the first time to the people of Mexico the way the justice system actually works there (I’ll give you a hint, not like it works on “Law & Order”) proved again that documentaries can truly create change at both the grassroots and political level–something we’re eager to do as well with Queen of the Sun.

A huge thank you to the IDA and IDA Jury Members for selecting Queen of the Sun: What Are the Bees Telling Us? We’re bursting at the seams. And also our gratitude to everyone who has supported Queen of the Sun so far. We’ll keep you posted for many screenings coming up this spring. Don’t be shy to contact us if you want to help be an agent of change for the bees. We need your help!

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Queen at 2010 IDFA: Green Screen Competition

QUEEN OF THE SUN: What Are the Bees Telling Us? has been officially selected for the IDFA Green Screen Documentary Competition!

IDFA (International Documentary FIlm Festival Amsterdam) is a prestigious film festival that takes places yearly to celebrate some of the best documentary films by acclaimed filmmakers from around the world. Previous selections include the oscar-winning The Cove and award-winning documentaries Last Train Home, Burma VJ and RIP: A Remix Manifesto. IDFA attracts distributors, TV broadcasters, industry and press from around the world for nearly two weeks and provides a true platform to bring documentaries into global spotlight.

IDFA runs from Nov. 17 – 28. Click here for our screening times.